Crete Monee school board hears concern over $17 million transfer; finance director explains

The Crete Monee CUSD 201U Board of Education held a special meeting and public hearing on the 2025–26 amended budget on June 9, 2026. A written public comment raised concerns about large fund transfers; Director of Finance Brian Johnson explained the district’s accounting and the schedule to adopt the amended budget.

The meeting began at 6:30 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and the district mission statement. Chair (speaker 2) opened the public hearing and read a written comment from John Pechuta, who said he believed about $17,000,000 had been moved from working cash into capital projects and that some of the funds were being used for the stadium. Pechuta wrote that similar transfers had moved $20,000,000 into capital in 2025 and urged that those funds be returned to voters to reduce the school portion of property taxes.

"I was watching the YouTube board meeting ... it was mentioned that $17,000,000 was going to be moved from the working cash funds into the ... capital fund," the written comment said, according to the reading by the chair. The chair also asked that the letter be included in the June meeting record.

A board member asked for clarification about the written allegations. A staff member replied that the district has been transparent and that Brian Johnson would address the transfers during his presentation.

Johnson, the district’s director of finance, told the board the amended-budget packet compares the original approved budget to the proposed amended budget across all funds. He said bond proceeds sold in prior years appear as revenues in earlier fiscal years while related capital spending spans multiple years, creating a timing-related deficit of nearly $30,000,000 in the all-funds comparison. For operating funds only, Johnson said the amended budget projects a $2,400,000 surplus before transfers.

Johnson described a $17,000,000 proposed transfer of fund balance from working cash into capital projects to pay for ongoing construction and capital needs. He also said the district moved $2,250,000 of tax-increment financing (TIF) revenue from the education fund to debt service to cover bond payments. "With that $2,250,000 transfer, the projected surplus is just over $170,000," Johnson said.

Johnson reported the district completed its fiscal-year audit by Oct. 15 with no issues and that a preliminary FY26 audit has begun. He also commended staff for implementing a new staff-planning module in the district’s accounting and HR software to improve projections of staffing, salaries and benefits.

After the presentation the board voted to close the public hearing; the motion carried by roll call (individual votes were not fully recorded in the transcript). The board then moved to close the special meeting and adjourned at 6:43 p.m.; the chair announced the committee-of-the-whole meeting has been moved to Thursday at 6:30 p.m. The board is scheduled to adopt the amended 2025–26 budget at its regular meeting on June 16, 2026.

What’s next: the district will post the revised budget to the district website and submit it electronically to the state board of education after formal adoption at the June 16 meeting.