Lake Forest Community High School District 115 anticipates a slight decrease in revenue during the fiscal 2016 budget year, mostly due to uncertainty about the state’s budget situation.
The district expects $47,106,391 in revenue for the year running from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016, according to a proposed budget on the district website. That’s a .08 percent decrease from the last budget year.
“We anticipate receiving only three payments from the state instead of four,” said Allen Albus, deputy superintendent of finance and operations. “That remains to be seen because we don’t know what Springfield is going to do, especially in a year like this when they are dealing with massive budget issues.”
To be safe, Albus said the district is also assuming it will have to take on about $400,000 to $500,000 of the cost of paying teacher pensions. This is money that the state of Illinois has paid in the past, but there has been talk in Springfield about transferring some of the cost of pensions to local districts.
“It’s been talked about in the past,” Albus said. “We haven’t seen legislation.”
On the expense side, the district anticipates spending $48,093,004. That’s a 1.52 percent increase from the last budget year. To make up a $986,000 difference between anticipated revenue and expenses, the district plans to go into reserves.
The district aims to keep reserves of at least ten percent of its anticipated expenses. As of Aug. 3, the reserves were at 19 percent of anticipated expenses or a bit above $9 million, Albus said in an e-mail. The district’s reserves decreased from 2008, when the economy went bad, until 2011, according to a presentation during the board of education’s July meeting. During the last three years, reserves increased. The district did not need to draw upon its reserves last school year.
“I don’t see a structural deficit and we don’t anticipate future finance problems,” Albus said.
The vast bulk of revenue comes from local property taxes. The majority of that — about 80 percent, Albus said — is spent on salaries and benefits.
“Education is a very labor intensive industry,” Albus said. “On the North Shore, where you tend to have lower class sizes, you need more staff.”
Coming in a distant second in spending is about $600,000 to supply freshmen, juniors and seniors with laptop computers. After that comes construction of a storage facility at $290,000. The district also plans to spend $50,000 on asphalt replacement, $90,000 for a mower and $30,000 for a vehicle.
The annual budget is an educated guess on revenue and expenses and can vary based on factors outside the district’s control, according to Albus. For example, if a special education student moves into the district and needs residential placement, that could cost the district $80,000 to $100,000.
“That line item can vary greatly from year to year,” Albus said.
Albus reports monthly to the board of education on the district’s actual financial situation, and in January — halfway through the fiscal year — does an intensive review of finances.
The proposed budget for the 2016 school year is posted on the district website
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. It is also available for public inspection at the district administrative center, 300 Waukegan Road. A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at the administrative center.