Northumberland County School Division leaders and outside consultants told the Board of Supervisors on Thursday that follow-up accounting work reduced the division’s estimated net fiscal-year 2025 shortfall from about $1.3 million to roughly $400,000.
Jack Regan of UHY Advisors described a multistep review of cash disbursement reports, reversals of certain prior-year charges and reclassification of federal and special-appropriation expenses. He said his analysis — prepared with school and county staff — found approximately $500,000 in overages in instruction and $100,000 in pupil transportation, offset by about $200,000 under budget in operations and maintenance, leaving a net supplemental need of approximately $400,000.
Regan summarized the work: comparing the adopted budget and supplements to cash payments, reversing fiscal‑year‑24 charges that posted to FY25, identifying payroll and vendor accruals that should be charged to FY25, and reclassifying CARES/federal special-appropriation items into the proper budget lines. “The bottom line from my standpoint … it looks like the net budget ask is needs to be approximately $400,000,” Regan said.
Superintendent Dr. Leslie presented a set of requests the board would need to approve to close out FY25, including a supplemental appropriation of $300,000 for instruction and $100,000 for pupil transportation (total $400,000), plus multiple transfers between accounts to eliminate negative balances in special appropriations, federal CARES and federal funds accounts. The transfers, as presented, would zero several negative subaccounts by moving expenditures into their originally appropriated categories.
Board members pushed for clarity before authorizing the appropriation. One supervisor asked whether the proposed transfers would create a negative balance elsewhere; Regan confirmed that without the supplemental appropriation, instruction would show a negative roughly equal to the requested amount. Several supervisors said they wanted one absent member — Supervisor Williams, who was traveling — to be present for a final vote on the supplemental appropriation.
The motion to approve the $400,000 supplemental appropriation was made and then withdrawn to give members more time to review detailed schedules. The board directed staff to schedule a meeting next week (or at the July 20/23 meeting) to consider the appropriation and to discuss a temporary director of finance plan the county is considering. County staff reported a short-term proposal from UHY to provide a temporary finance director and a one-time policy/procedures review: roughly $71,280 for three months of interim finance support plus a policies-and-procedures engagement.
Board members approved many of the bookkeeping transfers that move negative balances within special appropriations, federal CARES and federal funds to the correct budget lines; the comprehensive supplemental appropriation for the net $400,000 was deferred until the absent supervisor could participate and board members had time to review the backup documentation.