Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Amendments topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Socorro ISD briefing explains $6.7 million budget amendment as routine lease-accounting entry
Summary
At a June 3 briefing, Socorro ISD finance staff told trustees that a roughly $6.691 million amendment scheduled for June 17 is an annual accounting reclassification tied to lease/subscription accounting (booked to '7900 — other resources') and does not indicate an operating loss; a public commenter requested more time and clearer explanation.
At a June 3 board briefing, Socorro ISD finance staff told trustees a roughly $6.691 million variance in the proposed June 17 budget amendments reflects an annual accounting/journal entry tied to lease and subscription arrangements, not an operating shortfall.
David Cis, the district’s chief financial officer, said the district expenses the full contract amounts during the year and then records a year‑end accounting entry that reduces expenditures and records the offset in a 7900 “other resources” line. "What we do is we actually expense the full amount each year...and then at the end of the year we have to do an accounting entry and so it reduces the actual expenditures and then we actually book it as a 7900 — it's other resources," Cis said. He and staff said that the amendment reallocates spending across functions and is routine.
The exchange followed a public comment from Tom Lane, who asked the board to allow extra time on item 4C2A and requested additional explanation for the difference between the originally adopted figures and the proposed revised budget. "I noticed there looks to be about a 6.7 million variance ... I would just like an explanation," Lane said during the public‑comment period.
Trustees pressed staff to show how the packet labels certain amendments as "budget neutral" (changes contained within expenditure functions) while others affect both revenues/other resources and expenditures. Staff explained that many amendments are reallocations within expenditure functions and that, when the packet shows a net change, it is because the amendment shifts amounts between revenue/other-resource lines and expenditures. "So those budget amendments are balanced," Cis said.
Why it matters: several trustees cited concerns about fiscal transparency after recent problems reported in other nearby school districts. Board members said the new presentation format — which shows adopted, amended, pending and tentative revised budgets — was intended to make it easier for trustees and the public to see which changes are neutral accounting reallocations and which change totals.
Next steps: Trustees will receive the published proposed budget book on June 7 and are scheduled to consider adoption of the budget and the listed amendments at the June 17 regular meeting.
