Buffalo board hears $83M deficit projection as commissary and $64M capital plan advance

Chief Financial Officer Jim Barnes told the Buffalo Board of Education’s executive committee that the district is operating within its adopted budget but remains on track for an $83,000,000 projected deficit for the fiscal year. Barnes opened a three-part update during the committee’s Dec. 4 meeting, covering first-quarter financial results, a proposed food commissary and a $64 million capital program that the district intends to finance with a $54 million bond and $10 million in district cash.

Barnes said the district’s two-year plan addresses a prior-year loss of about $90,000,000 and declining enrollment; the plan relies on roughly $83,500,000 of fund balance in the current year. He described personnel moves that removed about 226 mostly vacant positions from the budget while adding 158 general-fund FTEs to preserve student-facing services, a shift that will increase salary and benefit expenditures and reduce vacancy savings.

On enrollment, Barnes said K–12 counts as of Oct. 31 were up “between 300 and 400 students,” the first…