Quincy An encouraging report regarding the $97 million annual budget for 2025–2026 was provided to the Quincy Public School Board finance committee.
Ryan L. Whicker, the district’s Chief of Business Operations and a certified public accountant, stated that we are on budget. This year turned much better than I had anticipated.
He was briefed during the committee’s Tuesday noon meeting at the Board of Education Office, located at 1416 Maine Street.
The budget included a 3% pay rise for non-certified personnel and a 3% increase in the qualified employees’ portion of the Teacher Retirement System (TRS). This is in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement that was just passed. A 5% increase in health insurance premiums is also included in the budget.
Mr. Whicker pointed out that because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the federal government has issued a lot of money, therefore patterns have not been typical. frequently called ESSER.
The district has a $12 million budget surplus for the 2024–25 school year alone, thanks in part to this funding. However, according to Whicker, they expected this money to eventually dry up, and it did.
According to Whicker, the district is not currently looking to adopt any new educational resources and is instead retaining its current ones.
“All we’re trying to do is keep the budget balanced,” Whicker continued. Spending will surpass earnings sooner or later, and we will have to begin depleting district reserves.
There aren’t any significant budget cuts in the works, Whicker told Muddy River News.
76% of the operating budget is allocated to salaries and benefits, whereas 50% of overall revenue comes from local property taxes.
MRN also asked Whicker what he believed to be the most significant budgetary misconception.
He responded that even though local property tax income rose by around $3.2 million this year, the Quincy Public Schools tax levy was not raised to account for the increase. The district has actually lowered its tax rates from $4.14 per $100 of Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV) in 2014 to $3.87 in 2024. The county assessor’s office’s property valuation assessments are directly responsible for the revenue gain.
Since last year’s $4.6 million upgrades allowed the district to combine IT, Maintenance, and Transportation at the Central Services complex, the district will spend less on capital expenditures.
In order to obtain the most accurate projections of energy expenses, namely those related to gas and electricity, for fiscal year 2025–2026, the district is also collaborating with consultants.
Based on the figures he’s seeing, Whicker told the committee, “Overall, I was happy with the way it turned out.” There are more than 3,000 line items. I’m happy that this year we were able to achieve balance once more. Over the course of the following month, this budget will change.
He did, however, issue a warning that he had no idea what the upcoming years will bring.
Quincy is currently in the tier one category for the State of Illinois Evidence-Based Funding, or EBF, according to Whicker.
According to Whicker, the district will receive an additional $598,000 this year, for a total projection of $18,033,276 as a result of this status move from tier two to one. In 2024–2025, QPS was awarded $17,434,843.26.
However, he noted that Chicago Public Schools, which is likewise ranked at tier one, received the majority of the $350 million in EBF. Tier placements are determined by the size and financial requirement of a district.
Shelley Arns, the president of the QPS Board and co-chair of the Finance Committee, praised district choices made in recent years.
“I just give the district credit for surviving what we knew would be a difficult period since 2020,” Arns said. I am aware of how conservative we have become.
As projections solidify, Whicker said he will update and re-present next month to account for any modifications to his remarks from Tuesday.
In order to guarantee a quorum in the event that they needed to take any action, committee members also debated whether the meeting time should be adjusted. Amber Uppinghouse, William Duryea, and Chair Curtis Sethaler were not present at the meeting on Tuesday. As a result, they were unable to vote or take any action on the Jr./Sr. High Activity Funds or the check register.
For the benefit of our readers, MRN has included all of the school district records that Mr. Whicker made public below. Please navigate through them using the arrow function in the order that they were made available to us:
