Mundelein High School District 120 school board members approved their final budget for the new fiscal year at their meeting Tuesday.
The budget calls for increases in revenue, but a decrease in expenditures when compared to actual costs of last year, officials said.
The spending plan estimates the district will take in about $43,276,951 in total revenue this fiscal year. This is a about a 1.6% increase from last year, where the district received about $42,569,488, according to Andy Searle, the chief school business official.
On the expense side, the district will see a decrease, down from $43,288,390 last year to $43,114,254 this year. This is a 0.4% decrease. The final result is a surplus of about $162,697, which Searle said was small with all things considered.
“With that large of an amount of money, it’s really just a balanced budget,” Searle said.
Searle did clarify though that the numbers given for last year are unaudited, and the final tally after the inspection could result in the numbers being slightly different.
Some of the district’s decreased expenditures can be traced to some early cuts made that cleared up about $400,000, Searle said. These included the district not re-hiring two positions after one person retired and another took a leave of absence, he said. He added the district also cut about $200,000 in capital expenditures.
Searle also said the coronavirus pandemic holds some responsibility for losses in both revenue and expenditures. Students not being in the building has resulted in the district saving costs in various places, such as transportation.
But as a result of the pandemic, the district is also anticipating possibly receiving less in property taxes this year, Searle said. To factor it in, Searle said D120 officials estimated they would collect 99% of their property taxes. This is down by half a percent from a typical year, or about $200,000, Searle said. Fees from student parking passes and revenue from various places, like football games are also causing a slight reduction.
“I’d say it’s probably a little bit better on the expenditure side than on the revenue (side),” Searle said. “There’s little things all throughout the budget that have an impact on both ends.”
In looking forward, Searle said the pandemic also made it difficult to know what to anticipate in the coming months and how it will impact the budget. Bringing students in could result in large expenses, including the enhanced cleaning that would be required. Personal Protection Equipment can also cause unusual expenses when compared to other years, he said. This is also compounded by the unknown of exactly when students will return, he said.
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The district received about $177,000 in C.A.R.E.S. Act money from the federal government, Searle said, which was used to help fund the potential PPE. Searle added D120 is also expecting to receive about $62,000 from Lake County, which is related to the pandemic.
Searle said the district is working to get some form of in-person learning in place, with meetings expected to take place next week on the topic. But he caveated it saying that things can change.
“Hopefully we’ll have something to present to the school board (in October), and I’m sure we’ll have quite a discussion at that point … as far as when we could possibly get kids back on some sort of hybrid model.”