Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the District Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Fountain Hills board adopts preliminary 2024-25 budget after public hearing, with $1M contingency and projection of 100-student enrollment decline
Summary
After a public hearing, the Fountain Hills Unified School board adopted its 2024-25 preliminary budget, keeping a $1 million contingency and budgeting conservatively for a projected 100-student decline in average daily membership (ADM). The vote to adopt passed 3-1.
The Fountain Hills Unified School board on June 18 adopted the district's preliminary 2024-25 budget after holding a public hearing. The board approved both the proposed and adopted budget forms required by state reporting; the adopted budget passed on a recorded voice vote, 3-1.
District staff told the board the Legislature approved K-12 funding with a one-year exemption to the AEL limit, allowing districts'budget capacity to remain intact for the coming year. The presenters said the district included the state'approved 2% increase in its preliminary forms and noted a one-time capital increase enacted by the Legislature will expire the following year.
Staff described the maintenance and operations (M&O) budget as formula-driven by average daily membership (ADM) and said the district is budgeting for a 100-student ADM decline as a worst-case scenario; that projection was a principal driver behind an estimated 8.6% decline shown on the M&O forms. Staff said the district can reclaim budget capacity if enrollment does not fall as projected and can revise the budget before the September 15 deadline if state auditor general forms change.
The board was shown site-level, discretionary allocations (a per-student scaled allotment for consumables and operational needs: $25 elementary, $30 middle, $40 high school) and a breakdown of capital requests. District staff identified roughly 81% of the district's expenditures as salaries and benefits and cited utilities, insurance and substitute costs as fixed pressures. The capital summary included tech equipment, maintenance construction (about $350,000) and a $1 million contingency reserved for urgent facility needs such as a chiller replacement.
On revenue and special funds, staff described Impact Aid (a federal cash fund the district receives because it serves students living on a reservation) at roughly $500,000 annually and said the district planned to use some cash funds to support transportation and other specific needs. Staff noted that cash funds are not always represented directly on state budget forms in the same way recurring M&O dollars are.
The superintendent cautioned the board that final budget forms from the auditor general can require adjustments and committed to returning with revisions by the statutory September deadline if necessary. The board voted to adopt the budget after the public hearing; the motion carried by a 3-1 vote.
What happens next: staff will monitor enrollment in the coming weeks, complete any required revisions when official forms are issued, and continue to provide site-level spending reports the board requested.
