Thursday, November 12, 2009 10:03 PM CST
Borrowing on school's horizon to offset sluggish state payments
By NATHANIEL WEST, For the JG/T-C
nwest@jg-tc.com
MATTOON — The state is getting so far behind on its payments to the Mattoon school district, administrators warned Tuesday, that borrowing may be necessary to cover a crunch in cash flow.
“This is going to sound gloom and doom, but we need to talk about where things are,” Assistant Superintendent for Business Tom Sherman told the school board.
The district now only may need to take out what is essentially an advance on property tax revenue, but it may also need to establish a short-term line of credit, Sherman said.
As of Sept. 30, the state had yet to reimburse the school district for such services as special education and transportation, to the tune of almost $600,000.
Additionally, the state has not allocated any federal Title I, II, IID or IV grant funds, and the Mattoon district is counting on $1.079 million. By this time last year, the district had already received about $300,000.
Finally, the school district is also expecting another $1.132 million in federal stimulus funding, which also has yet to be allocated by the state.
Superintendent Larry Lilly said he spoke with local state lawmakers, Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, and Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, and “they both said to expect slow payments throughout the fiscal year.”
Lilly also said, “Unfortunately, (this) has become a pattern year after year.”
Consequently, according to Sherman, the board likely will be asked to approve tax anticipation warrants as well as a line of credit for short-term borrowing.
Last year, the board approved $6 million in tax anticipation warrants, of which the district ended up needing only $2.1 million. This was paid back quickly, Sherman said.
He noted that he has talked to various officials in Springfield and administrators from other school districts, and “nobody has an answer.”
Sherman said, “It’s not a budget issue; it’s a cash-flow issue.”
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, officials offered a reminder that the opening of sealed bids for the former Central School property will take place at 10 a.m. Dec. 9 at the school district office building, 1701 Charleston Ave. The board has a established a minimum bid of $220,000 for the 300- by 300-foot lot, west of County Market, which is located in both a tax increment financing (TIF) district and an enterprise zone.
Mattoon High School journalism teacher Amanda Bright on Tuesday reported the success of a Journalism I class established about two years ago, and presented a request for a Journalism II class that would spend even more time producing a professional product, incorporating all major aspects of journalism.
“I continue to be amazed by our students,” Bright said.
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