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Interim city manager: $5.9M gap in Franklin schools’ FY2025 spending largely explained by late grant carryforwards; council moves to formalize appropriations
Summary
Interim City Manager Lincoln Saunders told the Franklin City Council that FY2025 school expenditures exceeded appropriations by $5.9 million on paper but that $6.83 million in restricted grants, prior encumbrances and an approved local-match increase largely explain the gap. Council voted to retroactively appropriate carryforwards, establish a school capital maintenance reserve under Va. Code §22.1-100B, and reappropriate $509,627 from prior roof refunds to the reserve.
Interim City Manager Lincoln Saunders told the Franklin City Council on March 23 that Franklin City Public Schools (FCPS) recorded $27.7 million in FY2025 expenditures against $21.8 million in council appropriations, a headline $5.9 million variance that became public this summer. Saunders said much of that difference is explained by restricted grant carryforwards, prior-year encumbrances and an approved increase in the required local match.
Saunders said FCPS had $6.83 million in documented restricted grants and prior encumbrances that were not included in the city’s originally adopted FY2025 appropriation. He told council that if those carryforwards and the approved local-match amendment are formalized, the unaudited accounts would show roughly a $925,000 positive balance for FCPS rather than the $5.9 million shortfall the public discussion suggested. “These are legitimate…
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