This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Dearborn Schools Pull Spending, Capital Project to Balance 2012 Budget

The district was forced to trim $2.2 million to close out the books on the fiscal year, due to unexpected shortfalls.

Closing the books on Dearborn Public Schools’ $170 million general fund budget for 2012 came with a surprise for district officials, who found out a few weeks ago that $2.2 million–not the projected $1.1 million–would need to be pared to balance the books on the fiscal year.

Linda Kempton of Wayne RESA, who stepped in to oversee the district’s finances after the , said the additional shortfall was because of slow tax collections from businesses and residents. If collected, the funds would eventually flow into district coffers.

“It’s basically a break-even budget,” Kempton said.

Find out what's happening in Dearbornwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The revised budget now equals $170 million in revenues and $169.9 million in expenditures.

According to Supt. Brian Whiston, the $2.2 million will be made up by delaying some capital projects and pulling back discretionary spending by staff on office supplies and equipment.

Find out what's happening in Dearbornwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“The work we were going to do at the athletic field will still occur, but we can’t pay for it out of this budget,” he said. “So, that will be delayed. And the other piece of it is that I took away everyone’s credit cards.”

The district was planning $700,000 in improvements at the high school field, including adding or repairing current concession stands. Whiston said the project is one of many that will have to occur on the 2012-13 tab, or be indefinitely delayed.

Kempton also looked ahead to the 2012-13 budget, which will begin July 1. So far, revenues and projected expenditures will equal $169.9 million, and leave little to work with in terms of capital improvements and infrastructure improvements.

Some of the items that will be eliminated for 2012-13 include new band uniforms, elementary school summer camps, Kempton said. Additionally, there is no money available for new bus purchases.

But other factors could be game-changers for 2013, however. If the state increases the amount paid into the statewide teacher pension system from 24.46 percent to 27.73 percent, the district will lose $3.5 million in July.

“If that happens, we’ll come before the board in July with more cuts," Whiston said. "But I don’t think it’s going to happen."

Other factors that are difficult to project include student enrollment, which determines per-pupil funding. Kempton estimates that will remain steady students for the 2012-13 school year, though the district has shown .

Though the district has dealt with more difficult budgets in the recent past, some Board of Education members remained discouraged about the district’s outlook for next year.

“We can’t afford any unforeseen issues,” said Trustee Jospeh Guido, who is the chairman of the board’s financial committee.

Trustee Jim Schoolmaster concurred with Guido.

“We are not investing in infrastructure,” he said. “We are putting everything we can into the classrooms. We’re going to have to address things like bus purchases.”

The board has until the end of the month to approve an annual budget and file it with the state. The budget approval will likely occur on June 25, the last official meeting this month of the Board of Education.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?