Finance director reports June fiscal close; district expects to submit FY25 numbers by Aug. 31

Pulaski County Special School District finance director Miss Rowlett presented a preliminary June fiscal update and told the board staff are finalizing numbers ahead of the state deadline.

Rowlett said the district began the month with approximately $32 million, expenditures for the fiscal year total about $3,023,000,000 (as presented in the packet), and the gross legal ending balance was about $16 million. After accounting for categorical funds, she said the district’s legal fund balance remained about $16.02 million and that the district had expended roughly 97% of legal budgets (funds 1, 2 and 4) at the time of the report. The district had collected about $3 million more than budgeted in overall revenue, driven largely by property tax receipts: Rowlett said tax collections exceeded budget by about $2.5 million and that overall revenue was about 3.4% higher than the prior year.

Rowlett told the board the state gives districts until Aug. 31 to submit final FY25 financials and that staff are working through accruals and closing items. She said staff are working on personnel budgeting — the largest portion of the operating budget, roughly 85% — and expect a special budget meeting in September to review the draft budget. Rowlett noted the district uses nine financial cycles and that cycle 9 in August would provide updated data for a September meeting.

Board members asked about timing and agreed to bring calendar availability to the next meeting to set a date for the budget session. Rowlett emphasized the complexity of personnel budgeting and the need to reconcile positions with payroll entries before pulling the final budget into the system.