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North Santiam board warned of roughly $1 million biennium squeeze as salary costs climb
Summary
Business director said payroll and biennial funding timing will tighten the district’s general fund this year, projecting a roughly $1 million revenue–expenditure gap despite higher property-tax receipts and grant carryover.
Rhonda Allen, the district’s director of business and fiscal services, told the North Santiam School District Board that a combination of collective-bargaining-driven salary increases and the state’s 49/51 biennial funding split is creating a tighter general-fund outlook for the current school year.
“Our general fund budget was $32,000,000. I’m projecting we’re gonna land around $33,000,000,” Allen said, then explained the effect of higher personnel costs: “Those salaries have bumped up to 23 [million]. So that is a $1,900,000 increase where the state school fund only gave us $526,000 at a 2% increase.” She summarized the net effect as “our revenue to expenditure deficit is about $1,000,000.”
Board members heard that revenue sources — primarily the state school fund and property taxes — provide most operating dollars, and that a strong Marion County property–tax collection rate (about 96%) helped produce modest additional revenue. Allen said property-tax growth would contribute roughly $390,000 but would not fully offset payroll changes.
Superintendent Lee Loving and board members discussed reserves and budgeting strategy. Loving said the district budgeted with the multi-year biennium in mind to avoid a sudden “cliff” next year and described the board’s preference for maintaining a stable ending fund balance rather than large one-year cuts.
The board was also briefed on the district’s grant portfolio and carryover: Allen said restricted grants and special revenue total roughly $6.5 million across Title programs, IDEA, preschool promise and other state and federal allocations, and that carryover is being used in part to sustain positions funded by those grants. “Some of these grants have carryover that moved from 23–24 into 24–25,” Allen said, adding that carryover helps cover salary expenses embedded in grants.
Board members asked about longer-term planning options, including deliberately saving a larger share of first-year biennial revenue to smooth the second year. Allen and trustees said they would fold the budget strategy into the district’s multi-year planning and report back to the board.
Next steps: directors will use the strategic-plan timeline and the multi-year budgeting framework to refine 2025–26 budget assumptions and return with more detailed scenarios.
