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Hamilton County schools project smaller fund balance, set compensation and health care as budget priorities
Summary
Finance staff reported a projected unassigned fund balance of about $24.7 million and a state-required minimum of roughly $16 million, leaving roughly $8.3 million above the minimum. Board members signaled early support for prioritizing teacher pay, step increases and a new salary schedule; staff warned health-care costs remain a major risk.
Mary Ellen, finance staff, told the Hamilton County Board of Education on Oct. 26 that final closeout work for the prior fiscal year is nearly complete and that the district’s unassigned fund balance is now projected at about $24,700,000. “Our minimum requirement is 3% of our operating budget,” she said; based on an operating budget of about $570,000,000 she calculated the minimum at roughly $16,000,000, leaving about $8,300,000 above that floor.
The fund-balance update was framed as the baseline for this year’s budget conversations. Mary Ellen said auditors remain at work and noted the district initially modeled a potential $12,000,000 use of fund balance midyear, then later reduced that estimate to about…
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