Madison finance committee sets tentative budget calendar, flags staffing and audit surplus

The Madison Board of Education Finance Committee met to review a tentative budget calendar and early budget priorities, including a firm Nov. 14 deadline for proposed budgets, the timing of an October audit, and preliminary enrollment-driven staffing needs. A staff member also reported an apparent $202,000 positive year-end balance that the committee may roll into capital reserves.

The calendar matters because the district must close and roll over its accounting system before the town opens its budget and because auditors will review last year's books in October, the staff member said. "With our new accounting system, we have to roll over the year, and we can only open up the accounting system for Board of Ed and then town," the…