New Trier High School District 203 now has a budget for 2017-2018, one in which revenue is expected to drop by about 1.5 percent compared with the 2016-2017 year – but in which total spending is also expected to drop by more than 20 percent, thanks to the end of the Winnetka campus construction project.
School board members unanimously approved the total budget of $117.2 million in revenue, and $132.3 million in spending for fiscal year 2018 – July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018 – when they met Sept. 18.
Board President Greg Robitaille said Tuesday that he was pleased the district had been able to control expenses at a time when revenue increases were small.
“It’s one thing I’m happy about. (Spending) is tighter than it used to be,” he said.
Chris Johnson, the district’s assistant superintendent of finance, said in his budget presentation that it was more important to compare 2017 and 2018 operating budgets, which cover the district’s day to day spending and revenue, than to look at overall figures, which include revenue from previous years.
The 2018 operating budget stands at $107.3 million in revenues, up from $105.5 million in the 2017 budget, according to Johnson’s report.
Operational spending in the district’s education, transportation, operation and maintenance, and retirement funds, is set at $103.8 million, down from the 2017 fiscal year level of roughly $105 million.
The education fund comprises the lion’s share of operational spending, covering administrative and instructional spending, including teaching salaries. For 2018, that fund is set to bring in roughly $92.8 million in revenue, largely from local property taxes, and $91.1 million in spending.
The other 2018 operational funds stand at $8.4 million and $7.7 million in revenue and spending respectively for operations and maintenance, which covers repair and maintenance of district property; $1.8 million and $1.9 million in revenue and spending for transportation, which covers district transportation needs; and $4 million and $3.1 million for revenue and spending in the district’s retirement fund.
The non-operating funds include capital projects; working cash, which is primarily a fund to account for inter-fund borrowing; and debt service.
Revenue and spending for debt service, the fund that pays back bonds sold by the district, are budgeted at $9.6 million and $9.9 million respectively. The budgeted 2018 capital spending of $16.6 million is financed not only by 2018 revenue of $224,000, but by revenue from previous years, according to the budget report.
This year’s district budget doesn’t include spending or revenue in the Winnetka campus fund, since that project will be completed this fall, and has been paid for largely with proceeds from a bond sale approved in 2014, according to the budget report.
Almost 92 percent of all district revenue comes from local property taxes, according to the report. And the majority of all district revenue, whether local or from other sources, goes largely to the education fund. That amount stands at 79 percent, the report stated. An estimated 8 percent of all revenue goes to debt service, while 7 percent goes to operations and maintenance, 4 percent goes to retirement funds and 2 percent to transportation needs.
The 2018 budget documents can be viewed at http://www.newtrier.k12.il.us/, under the board agendas and minutes tab, in the Sept. 18 meeting packet.
[email protected] More Top Picks Ladder
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy