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Orleans Parish finance committee: May revenues beat budget but timing anomalies and an executive order cut state funding
Summary
Finance staff told the committee May revenues were about $3.8M vs. a $3.1M budget, leaving an unaudited fund balance of $101,994,563; staff warned that sales-tax timing anomalies and a recent executive order reduced next year's state MFP allocation by $10.2M.
The Orleans Parish School Board Budget & Finance Committee heard a monthly financial update July 28, with district finance staff reporting May revenues of "about 3,800,000," slightly ahead of the $3.1 million budgeted for that month, and expenditures slightly higher than planned.
Presenter Miss Veal said the district's unaudited fund balance for the period was "$101,994,563," but clarified that number is reported "before any deferred revenue payments." She told the committee that one-time items — notably the payoff of a RAND instrument and its associated interest — increased expenditures for the month, with the interest expense around "$955,000." That payment reduced the district's cash position in April by roughly $50 million when the principal was repaid.
Board members pressed staff about recent timing anomalies in sales-tax remittances and how those differences affect local and state funding calculations. Miss Veal explained differences in revenue recognition: the school system records transactions when they occur while the city records when vendors remit collections. She warned that local revenue timing influences the district's DLFA allocation this year, while state Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) calculations reflect a two‑year lag.
Miss Veal summarized the state impact: "Our original MFP allocation would have been a little bit over 213,000,000, but the executive order took about 10.2 from our MFP allocation 10,200,000," reducing the net MFP amount used to pay schools next year to $203,066,474. The district will use audited local revenues to compute DLFA amounts and will update per‑pupil figures after official October 1 and February 1 counts.
Why it matters: the combination of timing anomalies in sales-tax reporting and the executive order's reallocation to stipends creates near-term cash‑flow and planning uncertainty for schools, even where overall annual revenues appear positive. The committee directed staff to continue monthly reconciliations with city officials and to provide more verification about the February collections discrepancy noted by members.
