By Chris Fox
For The Elmhurst Independent
At the regular meeting of the Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 Board held on Sept. 22, Christopher Whelton, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance and operations, provided details about the district’s 2020-21 budget during the hearing. Board members voted unanimously during the regular meeting to approve the district’s 2020-21 budget.
Whelton began by noting that the district’s 2020-21 budget covers the year from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021. The budget calls for revenues of approximately $132.7 million, with expenditures of about $138.2 million, for a deficit of about $5.5 million.
The district started the 2020-21 fiscal year with a balance of about $63.4 million in its operating funds, Whelton said. The 2020-21 deficit of about $5.5 million with leave the district’s operating funds with a total balance of about $57.85 million at the end of the budget year.
Whelton had presented a tentative 2020-21 budget to the board in August. He noted some of the recent adjustments to the budget during the Sept. 22 hearing. The adjustments from the tentative to the final budget included a decrease of about $470,000 in expenditures for food supplies, as a result of students not being in school buildings due to the pandemic.
Another adjustment to the final budget was the recent $290,000 purchase of technology supplies to assist the district with remote instruction. He also noted that the final budget includes more accurate salary information.
Whelton said that property tax payments account for about $113 million of the district’s $132.7 million in revenues for the 2020-21 budget year.
He also noted that expenditures for salaries in the 2020-21 budget year are up more than 6 percent over the 2019-20 year. According to the 2020-21 budget, the expenditure for salaries will be about $87.9 million, while the expenditure for benefits will be about $15.9 million. He said that the district had an increase of 8.67 in certified staff members from last year to the 2020-21 budget year. He said the district currently has 713 certified staff members. Whelton said the district had 615 certified staff members when he began working for the district in the 2011-12 school year.
The district had about 8,100 students during the 2011-12 school year. There are about 8.500 students enrolled in district schools during the current school year.
The 2020-21 budget includes about $1.9 million in COVID-19 expenditures that the district has not incurred in past years, Whelton said.
Whelton stated that the district needs to keep its increases in salaries and benefits aligned with increases in property tax revenues. He said property tax revenues are up about 2.1 percent from last year to this year. The increase in expenditures for salaries is about 6.3 percent from last year to this year, while the increase in benefits is about 3.4 percent.
He also noted that the 2020-21 budget includes $4 million in spending to maintain district facilities. He said the district used to spend $1.5 million each summer to maintain its facilities.
There were no public comments during the budget hearing. More School Board news can be found elsewhere inside this issue.
