Mid-Year Budget Amendment Saves Northville Schools $1 Million

The Northville Board of Education approved an amendment to the district budget Tuesday that resulted in a savings of more than $1 million.

The reduction of $1,092,821 comes from both an increase in revenue and a decrease in expenditures compared to what was originally budgeted in June.

The amendment included several changes to the budget, including the following notable items.

A $729,729 increase in revenue was added due to a higher enrollment in the district than what was expected. The June budget estimated 6,966 students to be enrolled full-time, and the blended fall count was 7,057 — an increase of 91.

However, a $750,000 decrease in revenue was also added to the budget to establish a health fund for staff. Currently district employees are self-insured, so they pay as they go. Creating a fund stabilizes year-to-year variability, which will result in a savings for the district.

The overall increase in revenue came out to $281,432.

The majority of the decrease in the budget's expenditures comes from two changes. A $285,000 decrease came from paying lower salaries than was anticipated for new teachers hired for full-day kindergarten. The original June budget estimated that the average salary would be higher than it was.

Another $740,572 savings came from a rate reduction in retirement costs.

The overall reduction in expenditures came out to $811,389.

2012-13 Budget

Superintendent Mary Kay Gallagher said although the amended budget is good news, the district's budget could still dramatically change due to several school reform proposals that are moving through Lansing.

"This is on one hand great news from where we thought we would be to where we are now," Gallagher said. "The stabilization of the school's budget has tremendously improved from the structural deficit point of view. What is hard to stomach or swallow is you can't even take a minute to celebrate that fact because there are these watch points."

Gallagher said the planning process moving forward is difficult because of these proposals.