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Decatur superintendent presents FY27 draft budget as board weighs salary options and fund balance
Summary
CFO Dr. Lita Broom presented FY27 preliminary draft 2, which shows roughly $112.1M in revenue and $119.6M in expenditures and leaves an estimated ending fund balance of about $13M (10.85%). The draft includes several compensation options and a planned use of fund balance to balance the budget; the board approved a FY26 amendment to distribute the state one‑time salary supplement.
City Schools of Decatur staff on April 14 presented the district’s FY27 preliminary budget (Draft 2), detailing revenue projections, proposed personnel and compensation scenarios, and the tradeoffs between recurring compensation increases and one‑time expenditures.
CFO Dr. Lita Broom told the board that the draft anticipates total revenue of roughly $112.1 million and expenditures of about $119.6 million, with the difference to be covered by the district’s beginning fund balance. The projected FY27 ending fund balance under Draft 2 is just under $13 million, or about 10.85 percent of expenditures — inside the board policy range of 4–15 percent.
Dr. Broom explained that Draft 2 assumes more conservative property tax growth than Draft 1 and reflects a mix of recurring salary choices and the reallocation of some recurring costs. She described multiple compensation options that the board has considered; the version underpinning Draft 2 includes a 3 percent cost‑of‑living adjustment and targeted adjustments to administrative pay scales. The district estimates teachers‑only salary cost for a straight 3 percent COLA at roughly $1.3 million.
Board members discussed the fiscal tradeoffs: prioritizing a larger recurring salary increase would reduce the fund balance and require offsets in other programs or one‑time spending. After presentation of Draft 2, the board approved a separate FY26 budget amendment to allocate the state’s one‑time $2,000 supplement for eligible positions; the state provided approximately $995,466 and the district covered the remaining roughly $842,000.
What happens next: staff will hold a community budget meeting on April 22 and additional public hearings in May; the board will review further adjustments before adopting a final FY27 budget in June. The administration also said it will produce clearer itemized explanations that separate one‑time start‑up costs from recurring increases, and will quantify the budget impact of any requested design changes for the ECLC if the board directs them to do so.
Key figures: FY27 Draft 2 revenue ~ $112,144,659; expenditures ~ $119,577,964; projected ending fund balance ~$12,977,313 (10.85%). FY26 one‑time state supplement: ~$995,466 (state share) with district covering the remainder to deliver $2,000/$1,000 payments to eligible employees.
Sources: Presentation by Dr. Lita Broom, CFO; line‑item discussion and board deliberations during the April 14 meeting.
