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Pasco staff present tight tentative budget, keep reserves at board minimum
Summary
District staff presented a tight tentative budget that balances using about $10.4 million in reserves, warns of continuing enrollment declines and notes the first required public hearing is July 21. Staff said pass-through charter and FEFP revenues make headline general-fund increases appear larger than locally available funds.
The district’s CFO warned the tentative 2026–27 budget is a tight plan that relies on reserves to balance and put the fund balance right at the board’s 5% floor. "We cannot go below," the CFO said, adding the district used about $10,400,000 in reserves in this tentative plan and will continue to monitor budget-to-actuals as the year progresses.
Director of finance Janie Hare said the district’s total tentative budget is down roughly 0.9% year-over-year overall, driven mainly by capital-project spend-down. She said the general fund shows a 2.3% increase that is largely driven by pass-through revenue for charter schools and FEFP-related programs and that the third TRIM calculation will remove some of those pass-throughs.
The presentation noted the state requires two public hearings on the proposed budget and millage: a tentative hearing on July 21 at 6 p.m. and a final hearing on Sept. 8 at 6 p.m. The CFO said the district expects to post the tentative budget book and related TRIM ads online by the end of the day.
Why it matters: staff told the board the district faces a combination of declining enrollment, modest state funding increases and rising employee benefit and materials costs that together put pressure on operating reserves. The CFO said historical actuals sometimes outperform worst-case projections, but that the board should be prepared to discuss additional steps if projected drawdowns occur.
The workshop produced no motions or votes; staff agreed to add an explanatory footnote online clarifying the effect of charter and FEFP pass-through revenue on the general-fund line items.
