SCHOOLS WELCOME UNEXPECTED REVENUE; LOCAL DISTRICTS LIST THEIR SOURCES

School administrators at Cape Girardeau and Jackson public schools said a number of factors contributed to the increases in fund balances for the fiscal year that ended Tuesday.

Officials from both school districts said unanticipated funding, including fewer delinquent local taxes; increased participation in local programs; more money from state sales taxes and checks for adjusted state funding from preceding years all played a part in the unexpected higher balances at the end of the fiscal year.

Other factors were fewer expenditures than budgeted and revenue growth above expectations, they said.

"There are some areas that are difficult to budget, and they just did better than we thought," said Dr. Steve Del Vecchio, business manager for Cape Girardeau schools.

Jackson school officials said a combination of conservative budgeting and good, local growth attributed to their strong fiscal performance for the third straight year. Including funding from the sale of bonds with restricted use, the school district had a total increase of more than $1 million in balances.

The district's balance in the general fund, which is used for most operating costs, is expected to increase $309,848 -- nearly $300,000 more than original estimates -- when all transactions through Tuesday are recorded.

Dr. Howard Jones, Jackson schools superintendent, said revenue from construction in the school district was greatly responsible for the balance increases. Increased construction means more revenue from local taxes, but the benefit is only felt for one year because state aid is reduced based on construction revenue in the following year, he said.

"We received more than $10 million in new construction revenue last year, but the local piece is a short-term benefit in reality because you lose it in state aid the next year," Jones said. "Local wealth becomes a deduct next year, but if the growth continues, we'll benefit again."

Del Vecchio said Cape Girardeau's ending balances in its general fund are expected to perform over budget estimates by some $697,996 once final expenditures are recorded. Cutting budgeted expenditures for the year played a key role in controlling the budget, but increased revenue also played a major role in the increased savings, he said.

About one-third of the revenue growth was caused by increases in local revenue, including Proposition C sales taxes, local financial institution taxes and increases in student activities and vocational fees. Unanticipated state revenue totalling nearly $498,000 made up the bulk of the variance.

However, Del Vecchio said school patrons should realize the increase was only a small part of the district's $24 million budget for the year. Although it appears to be a lot of money, the district still outspent its income by more than $200,000 last year, he said.

"This is $600,000 on a budget of $24 million -- that's only a 3 percent variance," he said. "We still deficit spent, but the deficit wasn't as great as we thought. It's in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go."