Tuscaloosa City Schools reports revenues above projections, expenditures below budget through Aug. 31, CSFO says

Jay Duke, the district’s chief school financial officer, presented financial reports through Aug. 31, 2025, at the Oct. 21 Tuscaloosa City Schools board meeting and said the district’s revenues were above projections while expenditures remained below budget.

Duke told the board the fiscal-year target through 11 months is 91.7% and said, “we're zoning in on a 100% once we hit September 30.” He reported revenues (green on his charts) were above expectations and expenditures (red) were below budget through Aug. 31.

Duke highlighted several items: an influx the district described as "18,000,000," of which he said "11 of that was advancement technology money, which we'll spend in FY '26." He said that money arrived late in the year and will be expended in the next fiscal year. On capital outlay, Duke said the district budgeted $2,650,000 but had spent far less, noting two projects came in under budget. He gave one example: an early estimate for the Northridge High School fire alarm project was about $1,200,000 but the accepted bid came in at $660,000, which Duke said allowed the district to "bank that money."

Duke also said property-tax collections have ended for the season and that car-tag tax collections were slightly up year over year, while sales tax collections were close to the same month last year and slightly below overall collections from the prior year. He closed by saying the next presentation will include year-end closeout numbers for FY25.

Board members asked no substantive follow-up questions in the transcript excerpt; Duke paused for questions after his presentation.