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Finance director summarizes $342 million general fund, maintenance gains and digital ticketing
Summary
District business office reported on a $342 million general fund, increased use of an online facilities ticketing system and school‑meal volumes; directors said staffing and succession planning remain priorities.
Mister Karas, director of business and finance for the City School District of Albany, briefed the board on the business office’s responsibilities, facilities work and administrative systems.
Karas said the district’s general fund budget is about $342,000,000 and that payroll runs roughly $5,400,000 gross every two weeks. He reported the district handled approximately 1,800 payroll payments every two weeks and that accounts‑payable produces more than 200 checks weekly.
On facilities, Karas highlighted the district’s incident‑reporting system (Incident IQ), which recorded nearly 5,200 tickets in the last 12 months after the district replaced a paper‑based system. He said incident reports helped the maintenance team identify recurring problems, with HVAC issues accounting for the largest share of tickets.
Karas reported that all buildings now have current fire‑inspections and certificates of occupancy this year, compared with three buildings that were deficient last year. He also said the district is completing a building‑condition survey by calendar‑year end and that Phase 4 of Albany High School was substantially completed in August.
On school food service, Karas credited director Lisa Perron and the district’s vendor for serving roughly 1.5 million meals last year and reported robust participation in media and community events promoting school meals.
Board members asked about grounds maintenance and how community members should report issues. Karas said faculty and staff can submit work requests directly into Incident IQ, the district’s communications form can route public concerns to the communications office, and family or community callers can contact school main offices. Several board members urged the district to explore an online public reporting tool but cautioned that a public portal requires staff to manage follow‑up and public replies.
Karas said the business office’s priorities include streamlining contract and field‑trip paperwork using DocuSign and MyLearningPlan, increasing use of Wingcap web for employee access to paystubs and tax forms, and improving multi‑year financial planning.
