By BILL DWYER
River Forest
The District 90 school board took its first formal steps Monday night in a process it hopes will result in the best workable response to projected budget shortfalls starting with the 2008-09 school year. Finance committee chairman Ron Atkins will serve as liaison to a Fiscal Action Team to be constituted within the next two weeks. Atkins will be assisted by either board President David Gregg or Vice President Nora Anzinger as needed. Both Gregg and Anzinger served on the last Fiscal Action Committee that recommended a tax referendum in 1998.
While a tax hike referendum is likely, officials made it clear that such action is not a foregone conclusion yet. However, at a finance committee meeting Sept. 8, District 90 Finance Director Anthony Cozzi told board members and a sizeable audience that the district would run into the red beginning early in the 2008-09 school year, finishing with a $3.8 million deficit. That deficit would increase to $8.3 million following the 2009-2010 school year.
The district, Cozzi said, is severely constrained fiscally by the reality that 89 percent of its revenues come from property taxes and the added fact that its largest line item, teacher and staff salaries and benefits, account for 85 percent of all expenses.
Prior to the finance committee meeting, the school board unanimously approved and signed the 2005-06 budget. That budget represents a 3.8 percent increase in expenditures over the 2004-05 school year. Revenues, meanwhile, increased 2.6 per cent, from $13,666,600 to $14,024,900.
There are three possible time lines for any referendum, according to District Supt. Marlene Kamm. The first is the primary election the first Tuesday in March 2006, followed by the general election in November, as well as April 2007.
Board members discussed a four page memo outlining a draft time line for committee and board deliberations on the referendum issue.
"The idea is to get us organized," said Atkins. "To get the tasks laid out and to be able to engage the Fiscal Action Team."
Atkins and fellow board member Kristin Coe will meet this Friday morning to work out the language of the set of formal tasks the action team will be charged with. That Fiscal Action Team will be asked to pore over a mountain of financial data provided by the school district, breaking it all down, then reporting back to the board with recommendations on what course of action to take.
Atkins and Coe will also discuss a list of individuals who could potentially serve on that team, as well as lay out an agenda for the first several meetings. The team, which board members expect to be comprised of some 20 people, will have individuals who represent as full a cross section of River Forest residents as possible. At least 10 representative groups have been identified, including parents, seniors, private school parents, and people with no children, as well as former elected officials.
The first meeting is scheduled to take place Wednesday, Oct. 5, and continue each Wednesday for at least the next five weeks.
A special meeting was scheduled for Monday morning, Nov. 14 at 7 a.m. for initial review of the Fiscal Action Team’s findings. The board also re-scheduled its regular November monthly meeting to Tuesday, November 29 for formal deliberation of the team’s recommendations.
Atkins expressed satisfaction after the meeting, telling colleagues, "I feel like there’s a plan in place to get (the Fiscal Action Team) launched."
Content © 2005 Wednesday Journal Inc.