Archive: Around Town

The Lansing School District is projecting it will under-spend its budget by $337,833 this school year.  District Business Administrator Kathryn Heath told the Board Of Education last week that updated state aid figures and monthly spending predictions show a rosier picture than earlier projections.

"I looked at what was budgeted in the year to date from 12/31, and projected numbers from January to June," she said. "I looked at our trend for the current year, and also looked at last year to make a best estimate of where we might fall.  We will under-spend our budget by about $337,000 if these projected numbers are accurate."

By adding the $9,692,175 spent between July and December to projected spending of $19,121,992 from January to June, projected spending for the year is calculated at  $28,814,167.  Heath says using that current projection she is predicting there will be $337,833 remaining of the 2017-18 $29,152,000 budget when the books are closed for the fiscal year.  $18,148,170 of that budget came from property taxes, and an additional $1,051,900 from Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) agreements.

Heath explained the District budgets on the conservative side based on what they think state aid will bring, because the New York State budget is not finalized before the school district must devise its annual budget.  Pessimistic state aid projections previously showed -$416,841, but with actual numbers now coming from the state, id is only $119,259 below expectations.

"State aid projections were updated to include more building aid for Lansing," Heath said.  "That put the category almost $24,000 in the black, rather than the original projection of negative $274,000.  That's very good news.  The bottom line is a shortfall of $120,000 compared to $416,000."

Payroll is the largest school expenditure, at a projected $12,629,952, and benefits an additional $7,074,038.  Together they make up 68% of the cost of running the school district.  Goods and services are expected to cost $6,442,177, and $2,546,000 will be paid in debt service.  A projected $122,000 will make up the rest of projected expenses.

Even with the aid shortfall, the District is expected to have money left over.  But Heath warned that the numbers may still change.

"These projections are always fluctuating," she said.  "I look at them monthly and update them on what we're spending and what we anticipate needing to spend."

v14i3