District business manager reports April finances; capital projects fund grows, small year‑end deficit projected

The Denali Borough School District’s business manager, Jeremy Stanfield, told the school board that April brought strong revenue — $2,434,000 — driven largely by a state roof grant payment (about $1.5 million of a roughly $1.7 million payment). Expenditures for the month were just over $1,000,000, Jeremy said, leaving the district’s combined bank balances at just over $6.7 million.

Jeremy said the district had an IRS payment reversal earlier in the year that required returning an overpayment; the district has since returned the funds and is working with the IRS to recover about $10,000 in fees the agency billed. He also reported receiving the last of the district’s impact aid for the month (just under $2,000).

Superintendent Dan expanded on the financial picture and told the board the administration currently projects a FY25 year‑end deficit around $100,000 while still expecting a sizeable carryover. To reduce carryover and avoid possible state recapture, administrators plan some large prepayments before the fiscal year closes, he said. Dan noted the district’s capital projects fund now contains state grant receipts and that the borough will contribute a matching amount that will be deposited in that fund next month.

On grant spend‑down, Jeremy said the district has been reducing its allocations for transportation, Title I, Title IIA (special education), and Perkins career‑tech funds and expects to fully or nearly fully exhaust several of them this year. He flagged an issue with early learning funding that the district expects not to spend fully and continues to discuss reallocating with the state Department of Education.

Facilities items with budget implications include a recently purchased activity bus and an additional Siemens invoice; Anderson’s heating oil fill in April was about $8,000. Dan also told the board the Tri Valley septic and leach field project has an estimated engineering price of about $110,000 and, after scope adjustments, a revised construction estimate close to $1,000,000 — a figure that, depending on final DEED funding, could leave the district responsible for roughly $20,000–$30,000 of engineering or preconstruction outlays.

The board did not take additional budget votes at the meeting; the superintendent said a short, virtual meeting in June is possible if the administration needs board authorization for small budget revisions.