Geneva school board OKs $105 million spending plan
When Geneva school board President Mark Grosso first experienced a school budget hearing in September 2009, it was a 90-minute affair in front of at least 140 people, many of them upset with the district.
The annual budget hearing Monday night took about two minutes in front of a half-dozen members of the public, with nobody speaking.
"What a difference from years ago," Grosso noted before calling for a vote on the annual spending plan. "We have done very well controlling our budget in District 304."
The board unanimously approved spending $105.1 million for fiscal year 2017-18. That includes spending $21.8 million to repay money it borrowed.
The largest expenditure, at $44.6 million, is for salaries for employees covered by the education fund, followed by $6.9 million for benefits for those employees.
The district intends to spend $11.9 million on operations and maintenance and $5.6 million for transportation.
On the revenue side, the budget counts on receiving about $83.5 million in property taxes, $6 million in money from the state, and $822,000 in corporate personal property replacement taxes.
The fiscal year began July 1. State law requires that districts approve a budget by Sept. 30.