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Wauwatosa School District projects to finish near budget after September financial review
Summary
A district presenter told the board that revenues through September are slightly ahead of projections, largely due to an operating referendum, and that analytics predict a roughly $987,000 positive variance — but unpaid salary increases mean the district still expects to finish the year near budget.
Presenter, a staff member for the Wauwatosa School District, reviewed the district's September 2025 financials and said revenues are modestly ahead of projection while expenses remain slightly under projection at this early point in the fiscal year.
"We have received 2.65%" of budgeted revenues through September, the Presenter said, citing a projection of 2.31% and noting the district is a quarter of the way through the fiscal year. The Presenter said local revenues are primarily property taxes and are not collected until winter, while the district has received some expected state funding.
The Presenter highlighted that the district has received around $3,000,000 against a roughly $100,000,000 budget in one chart and later cited $3,400,000 against a $128,000,000 budget for the current year. He attributed the year‑over‑year revenue increase primarily to an operating referendum, saying last year the comparable receipts were about $1,500,000 against a $101,000,000 budget.
On the expense side, the Presenter said the district would have expected to spend about 14% of the budget by now but is at 13.2%, driven largely by salaries and benefits. "Part of that is because we haven't given any salary increases to any employee group yet," the Presenter said, and cautioned that once raises are paid the district will likely see those figures move toward the budgeted amounts.
Using the district's analytics, the Presenter said the district had spent about $16,000,000 so far and predicts another $109,000,000 in spending, yielding predicted expenses of about $126,170,000 versus a budget just over $127,000,000 — a projected positive variance of $987,000. He emphasized that much of the current variance is timing related and that he "wouldn't expect we're gonna end 1,000,000 dollars better than budget. I think we're gonna end right around budget."
The Presenter also noted the district's partner, CISA 5, will provide an external analysis in November to supplement the in‑house projections. No formal actions or votes were reported during this segment of the meeting.
Next steps: the district will receive major property tax receipts in winter and will incorporate CISA 5's November analysis into future projections; the Presenter recommended monitoring salary‑related expense timing as raises are implemented.
