Henniker board hears budget reconciliation: revenues beat projections, fund balance tops $1 million

District finance staff told the Henniker School District board the district’s revenue picture is stronger than budgeted in some areas and presented reconciliation figures as trustees prepared for a scheduled budget work session.

Speaker 7 (finance staff) said the Department of Revenue has finalized revenue numbers though tax rates are still pending. He reported Medicaid receipts and special-education aid "at a good pace" and "more than we had projected," and said those increases will offset amounts that otherwise would need to be raised. "We're already over projection," Speaker 7 said of Medicaid receipts.

Speaker 7 reported a current fund balance of $1,016,862.67, up about 0.5% from this time last year, and attributed part of the positive variance to hiring breakage (positions that remained unfilled or were hired later than budgeted) and lower-than-expected health-insurance expenditures. He said the district will begin using a new accounting module that permits invoicing to display projected revenues (adequacy, tax assessment) more transparently in coming board reports.

Transportation costs drew questions from trustees. Speaker 7 said a roughly $50,000 transportation line is driven largely by special-education and other specialized transportation, and noted the district has been unable to run an additional bus it budgeted for because of driver staffing shortages. Trustees and staff discussed the operational effect of that staffing shortage on routes (Craney Hill was mentioned as an affected area).

Facilities and capital needs were also discussed: trustees referenced a significant line item in draft documents (figures cited in discussion included $414,000 and a large charge for a courtyard stair/stairwell replacement). The board discussed options for covering those costs — using fund balance, end-of-year funds, or placing items on warrant articles — and planned conversations about warrant-article strategy and trust accounts before finalizing the proposed budget.

The board recorded the official Oct. 1 enrollment at 384 students. Staff also presented expanded retention and "stay" survey results: 52 employees responded, survey results were broken out by role and tenure cohorts, and the data will inform future discussions about staffing and compensation. Two regular-instruction positions remain unfilled, and the board expects to address staffing and collective-bargaining numbers during the budget process.

Trustees confirmed a budget work session scheduled for the next day in the library to step through the first draft of the budget and the default calculation, compare proposed vs. default items, and surface new requests for further discussion. No formal budget votes were taken at the meeting.