Finance Reports
A Look Inside Finance & Facilities with D70 Leaders
District 70's accounting records, budgets, and financial reports are organized and reported on a fund basis. A fund is established for specific activities and objectives and is operated in accordance with laws, regulations, restrictions, or other designated purposes. Each fund is a separate and independent accounting entity with its own assets, liabilities, and fund balance. Below is an explanation of each part of the budget sectioned into funds.
The Education Fund is the most significant of the district as it supports all the educational programs and encompasses approximately 80% of the District's financial activity. Teachers, Assistants, Administrative, and secretarial salaries and fringe benefits, curricular materials, student programs and athletics, food service and technology equipment, software and support, and district liability insurance are all examples of expenditures budgeted in the Educational fund.
The Operations & Maintenance Fund (O&M) is the District's largest operating fund. It contains approximately 12% of the District's financial activity. The fund supports the daily operation of four (4) elementary schools, one (1) middle school, and one (1) administration center. The main expenditures in the fund are associated with Custodial, Maintenance, Administrative, and Secretarial salaries and fringe benefits, energy costs, equipment, and repair of mechanical, plumbing, and roofing of the buildings.
The Debt Service Fund allocates revenue and expenditures for all of the District's long and short-term debt. The debt is usually in the form of principal and interest payments for prior bond issues. The county clerk extends the necessary taxes each year to pay off the District debt obligations based on the board-approved resolutions that were filed when the debt was issued. The District has several bond issues for which they have pledged alternate revenue sources, and the transfer amounts account for those alternative revenue sources.
The Transportation Fund supports the student transportation program. Revenue from the fund is received via property taxes, fuel reimbursements from Districts 73 and 128, and state reimbursement from transportation. The state reimbursement portion has been prorated for several years below the statutory 80% reimbursement rate. The district outsources the transportation of students and most extra-curricular to Lakeside Transportation, a private bus contractor. This past school year, the District transported 1703 students over 374,213 miles on 44 different bus routes.
There are two sub-funds in the Municipal Retirement Fund. They are the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund and the F.I.C.A./Medicare Fund. They are organized into two separate funds to coincide with the tax levy. This supports the pension program for all non-certified employees. The District is required to contribute to this program if an employee works over 600 hours per year. Each year, the contribution rate is set based on employee experience. Revenues for the Municipal Retirement Fund come from the local tax levy and also Corporate Personal Property Replacement Taxes.
The Working Cash Fund can be used for internal borrowing. Internal borrowing usually occurs because of low property tax collections and/or low fund balances. It is permissible to abate or permanently transfer funds from the Working Cash Fund to the fund most in need. Annually, the District transfers the interest income earnings to the fund most in need. This fund can act like the District's "savings" account.