The Elgin-based U-46 Board of Education Monday night approved a $857 million budget for its 2025 fiscal year that includes the district taking in a projected $820.1 million in revenue and a planned deficit of almost $37 million.
This deficit is attributed to one-time capital expenditures associated with the district’s various Unite U-46 Initiative projects. Total revenue represents an 8.71% increase over the previous year’s unaudited actual revenues, according to an executive summary.
“Local property taxes, which make up approximately 46% of total revenue, are expected to increase by 4.38%, bringing in $374,923,744,” the summary says.
As of Tuesday morning, the district had yet to respond to a request for information from The Courier-News as to how much more a typical homeowner will pay in property taxes due to this budget.
“This (budget) allows the administration to complete and continue working through construction projects, purchase and implement new curriculum, provide robust professional learning for all our staff and provide safe, accessible updated schools, provide transportation for over half of our students, continue to provide free meals for all our students and provide new first class technology,” Assistant Superintendent of Finance, Frank Williams, told the board during a hearing on the budget Monday night, prior to the vote.
Deputy Superintendent of Operations Ann Williams told the board that this year’s budget includes paying for a substantial portion of the $58 million conversion of Hawk Hollow Elementary in Bartlett into a new middle school. That work is being fully funded from district reserves.
The budget also reflects expenditures related to a new $135 million middle school being built on Rohrssen Road in Elgin, $65 million in renovations/additions being done at Kimball Middle in Elgin and $35 million in renovations/additions at Kenyon Woods Middle in South Elgin, with those projects being funded through reserves and other sources, Ann Williams said. The Kimball project will also use some referendum bonds voters approved in 2023.
Also being paid for by bonds will be a $65 million new elementary school on Elgin’s northeast side, $30 million in renovations/additions to Glenbrook Elementary in Streamwood, $25 million in renovations/additions at Century Oaks Elementary in Elgin and $10 million converting Illinois Park in Elgin from an early learning center to an elementary school.
The initial phases of the elementary school projects, including pre-design and design work, will impact the new budget, Ann Williams said.
As such, according to the executive summary, “capital outlay is projected to increase by 270%, totaling $133,959,103,” driven by these projects.
The executive summary says that local revenue sources are projected to decrease by 12.61%, mostly because of reductions in the Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax the district will be receiving and anticipated declines in interest income.
The budget anticipates that the district’s second-largest revenue source, the state’s Evidence-Based Funding, will rise by 9.36% to more than $301 million. Other revenues from the state are expected to decrease by 2.77%, to more around $34.4 million, largely due to reduced reimbursements for transportation and other restricted grants, according to the summary.
Federal revenues are projected at about $71.4 million, which includes more than $34.5 million from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Grant, which is set to expire on Sept 30.
Salaries and benefits remain the district’s largest expense. According to the summary, this amounts to roughly 59% of the district’s total expenditures or almost $504.4 million.
No public comments were made during Monday’s hearing. Ann Williams said there will be a presentation of the budget book at the next board of education meeting, Monday, Sept. 23.