Watertown district approves $2.2 million supplemental budget amendment, finance staff present May results

The Watertown School District board approved a proposed supplemental budget that modifies fiscal 2026 appropriations by about $2.2 million, increasing total budget authority to $123,576,395 to align revenue and expenditure reporting, district finance staff said.

Finance staff told the board the adjustments primarily reflect reporting and accounting alignment — including GASB reporting requirements, custodial fund accounting, state aid and property tax offsets, insurance reimbursements and planned utilization of available cash reserves. The employee benefit trust fund authority was increased by an estimated $500,000 to cover anticipated year‑end health insurance claims, staff said.

At the meeting the finance presenter also summarized May financial activity: the first distribution of 2025 taxes payable in 2026 totaled $10.4 million; special education monthly disbursements were about $85,000 with an ending cash balance of $2.8 million (expected to rise with in‑transit federal reimbursements); K‑12 nutrition services reported $183,000 in revenue for the month with an ending cash balance of about $24,000; and Lake Area Tech (LATC) reported $4.8 million in revenue for the period (including $3.2M in state revenue and roughly $200,000 in federal manufacturing technology funds), with a cash balance of $10.9 million.

Board members asked operational questions about limits on the K‑12 nutrition fund balance; staff noted the statutory guidance caps that fund at roughly three months of the prior year's operating expenditures (the presenter estimated an approximate threshold of $700,000). The supplemental budget was moved and approved during the meeting.

The board did not change tax rates at this meeting; the amendment is an internal alignment of reporting and spending authority rather than a cash increase, finance staff said.