School District Budget and Finances
Fiscal Year 2010 General Budget Information
Peru Public Schools District 124 currently maintains a total of nine funds, including the following by fund number: Education (10), Operations & Maintenance (20), Debt Service (30), Transportation (40), Municipal Retirement & Social Security (50), Capital Projects (60), Working Cash (70), Tort Immunity/Judgment (80), and Fire Prevention & Safety (90). Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10) runs from July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010. Typically, the vast majority of school district expenditures are from the Education Fund, as this fund provides the educational staffing and programming for the district. This includes expenditures for most employee salaries and benefits, supplies, equipment, textbooks, and other instructional costs.
Like Fiscal Year 2009, FY10 is an exception to that rule as Peru Public Schools finalizes expenditures related to the construction, equipping and site work of Parkside School, as well as expenses related to the renovations at Northview and Washington Schools. All of this work was completed in August of 2010, and final costs for most of these projects will be made in FY10.
Construction-related expenses for Parkside are paid solely from the Capital Projects Fund, while the bonds to fund the project are paid from the Debt Service Fund. Revenues to pay these bonds are generated from sales tax receipts through a unique intergovernmental agreement with the City of Peru. No bonds were sold to pay for asbestos abatement and renovation work at Northview and Washington; rather, these projects were paid from existing funds through the Fire Prevention and Safety and the Operations and Maintenance Funds. Of the estimated $15.86 million total FY10 expenditure budget, approximately $5.6 million is budgeted related to the above projects. As a result, the FY11 budget will likely decrease to roughly $10-10.5 million.
Aside from the planned deficits in the Operations and Maintenance, Capital Projects and Fire Prevention and Safety Funds, the district has considerable concern with the budgeted Education Fund deficit of $336,000. This is the first budget deficit in this fund in several years and is primarily related to increases in employee salary and benefits, as well as uncertainty with certain grants and state reimbursements due to the state's current fiscal crisis. This fund will be monitored very closely in the coming months and years, and is helped by the healthy fund balance the district has accumulated.
Public Budget Presentation and Adoption
The Illinois School Code mandates that each school district prepare a tentative budget, make the tentative budget available for public inspection for a minimum of 30 days, and hold a public hearing and formally adopt the budget prior to the end of the first quarter (September 30) of each fiscal year. The fiscal year 2010 tentative budget was presented on August 19, 2009. The final 2010 budget was presented at a public hearing and adopted by the Board of Education on September 23, 2009.
Accessing the FY10 Budget
The FY10 budget reflects estimated revenues and expenditures for the period beginning July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010. This is shown in two formats below. The FY10 Budget Summary is an easy to read overview of beginning fiscal year (July 1, 2009) balances, estimated FY10 revenues and expenditures, and estimated ending FY10 (June 30, 2010) fund balances.
The link to the district's FY10 Illinois State Board of Education Budget Form is also listed below. After the cover page, this document shows the overall budget summary on pages 2 and 3, a summary of cash transactions on page 4, estimated receipts/revenues on pages 5 through 10, and estimated disbursements/expenditures on pages 11 through 19.
Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Summary
Fiscal Year 2010 State Budget Form
Local Property Tax Rates
School district taxes constitute a significant portion of the local property tax bill, and Peru Public Schools makes every effort to maintain a low tax rate in our community. This contributes to the low overall tax rate enjoyed by Peru taxpayers. Listed below is the school district's tax levy year, followed by the year the rate is applied to real estate taxes, followed by the fiscal year the revenue flows into the school district, followed by the actual applied tax rate for the past ten years:
Levy Year Tax Bill Year Fiscal Year Applied Tax Rate
2009 2010 2011 2.9653 (estimated)
2008 2009 2010 2.9685
2007 2008 2009 2.9962
2006 2007 2008 3.0177
2005 2006 2007 3.0252
2004 2005 2006 3.1028
2003 2004 2005 3.0175
2002 2003 2004 3.0276
2001 2002 2003 2.9098
2000 2001 2002 2.9601
Anyone with questions regarding the school district budget, tax levy, or other issues related to finances should contact Superintendent Mark Cross at (815) 223-0486.
Salary, Compensation and Benefit Report
In accordance with certain requirements of 105 ILCS 5/10-20.46 and 105 ILCS 5/34-18.37, a school district must list on its website a salary, compensation and benefit report for administrators by October 1, 2009, as well as all teachers by July 1, 2010 and each subsequent year thereafter. Salary and benefit information for district administrators are as follows for fiscal year 2009 (FY09). District teachers and any other required staff salaries, compensation and benefits will be posted by July 1, 2010.
Fiscal Year 2009 Salary, Compensation and Benefit Report
Collectively Bargained Employee Contracts
In accordance with certain requirements of 105 ILCS 5/10-20.46, a school district must list on its website any contract the Board of Education enters into with an exclusive bargaining representative. The three collective bargaining agreements for Peru Public Schools District 124 are as follows:
Peru Educators' Association (IEA/NEA)
Custodial Service Employees (Local 138)
Food Service Employees (Local 138)
Required Listing of Contracts Exceeding $25,000
In accordance with the requirements of the Illinois School Code (105 ILCS 5/10-20.40), a school district must list on its website all contracts exceeding $25,000, any contract that the Board of Education enters into with an exclusive bargaining representative, and information required to be submitted in conjunction with the submission of the Annual Statement of Affairs. Please click the following link to view a listing of these contracts for July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009 (FY09):
