The Examiner U-46 News FeedLatest Dist. U-46 budget sustains statistical trend By Seth Hancock
The trend of major spending hikes coupled with enrollment declines is expected to continue in Fiscal Year 2023 for School District U-46 with the proposed $5.9 million deficit budget.
The budget was presented to the Board of Education at its Monday, Aug. 22 meeting. It shows revenue increasing from $662.3 million to $690.5 million, a $28.2 million increase or 4.3 percent, and spending rising from $660.8 million to $696.4 million, a $35.6 million increase or 5.4 percent.
A public hearing is planned for the upcoming meeting on Monday, Sept. 12 with a vote expected on Sept. 26.
Meanwhile, the district projects enrollment to drop by 847 students, 36,049 to 35,202 (2.3 percent), with 63 percent of capacity in use. The district projects enrollment to decline to 33,676 by 2024-2025.
This will be the eighth straight year of spending increases and enrollment declines.
Under this budget, spending will have increased 62 percent and enrollment will have declined 13.5 percent since 2012 when expenditures were at $430 million and enrollment at 40,687.
Staffing is projected to remain flat with 4,538 full-time equivalent staff, but salaries and benefits are projected to rise 4.4 percent from $445.7 million to $465.5 million, a $19.8 million increase. That’s a 28.6 percent increase from FY2018 when salaries and benefits totaled $362 million.
Per usual, the district plans to seek the largest property tax increase allowed by the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) with an $8.1 million increase, $324.6 million to $332.7 million.
The property tax levy is tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the federal government’s measure of price inflation. The CPI was 1.4 percent in 2020 and 7 percent in 2021, but PTELL limits increases to 5 percent.
Dale Burnidge, director of financial operations, said “the district’s tax levy will be limited to that 5 percent increase for levy year 2022,” and “this is the first time the levy’s been capped since PTELL was passed in 1991.”
The district projects an increase in state funding of $20.9 million to $233.2 million and a decline of $8.9 million in federal funds to $74.4 million.
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