Minooka grade schools to start year with good fund balances
By Kris Stadalsky For The Herald-News July 30, 2012 1:06PM
Updated: September 3, 2012 12:37PM
MINOOKA — Minooka Grade School District will start off the new fiscal year with a $28 million fund balance and that doesn’t include about $7 million in revenue stilled owed to the district.
“We still have a very healthy balance,” Superintendent Al Gegenheimer said.
The state of Illinois owes the district $1 million in unpaid state aide.
The remaining $6 million is due the district from unpaid property taxes. A small portion of that is from Grundy County’s June installment that is now coming in and the remainder is from an industrial company that the village is in negotiations with.
The district only received 72 percent of its revenue during fiscal year 2012, Gegenheimer said.
“That explains some of our shortfall in revenue,” he said. “We will get them, it’s not as big of a hole as it seems.”
At the same time, the district spent only 81 percent of its budgeted expenses during the year. As it stands, it is $5 million under budget for the 2012 fiscal year.
“I can tell you the credit is due to the administration, teachers and departments who made conscientious efforts to lower costs wherever they could,” said Gegenheimer. “I am really proud of this; I feel good about what we have done.”
Over the next few years the district should have more financial aid coming in as the state’s formula for determining it catches up with the current lower EAVs. This year’s state aid will be based on 2010, the year EAVs began falling with the economy.
The district could get an additional 30 percent to 40 percent this year and another 30 percent in fiscal year 2014, said Gegenheimer.
“We have got our struggles ahead of us, but the good news is we have our fund balances and our district has been very thrifty,” he said.
Minooka Primary Center Principal Teresa Miller wrote a grant on behalf of the district to fund the Grundy County Preschool Program.
The state board confirmed the program will be funded in fiscal year 2013 with $580,000, which is about 90 percent of what the district received last year.
The program serves students in Minooka, Morris and Coal City.
