Consultant warns Skokie 68 to monitor reserves as capital spending draws them down

The district’s outside financial consultant, Rob Grossi of Illuminate, presented a five-year fiscal forecast and warned board members that current capital spending and projected expenditure growth risk reducing fund balances below the state’s recommended 180-day threshold.

Grossi described long-term trends: “During this time period, your revenues grew at a rate of 3.4%, on an annual basis, and expenditures grew at 4.4% on an average annual basis,” and noted COVID-era timing effects and significant capital investment. He said the district has spent about $42,000,000 in major capital over the historical analysis period, using roughly $25,000,000 in bond proceeds and $17,400,000 in fund balance reserves.

Grossi put numbers on the projection: the district has $22,000,000 of projects to complete in FY26–27, and under current assumptions the projection shows aggregate fund balances declining by about $29,300,000, taking days of reserves from roughly 372 down to about 110. He warned trustees that the recurrent projection anticipates annual deficits in the $1–2 million range after 2026 and recommended identifying operational efficiencies and considering policy or borrowing options to keep reserves above the 180-day target.

Trustees questioned assumptions about new tax revenue from local development, TIF incentives and student yields; Grossi and district staff said the model did not assume tax incentives and recommended continued monitoring and a demographer study to estimate student impacts from proposed large housing projects.