District 211 adopts tentative budget, defers plan on money from land sale
Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 board members' recent 5-2 approval of a tentative $270.7 million budget for the new school year came in conjunction with a discussion on how and when use of $17.7 million from the anticipated sale of land in Schaumburg should be planned.
While Board Member Mark Cramer proposed the creation and approval of a plan in October that he felt should include some abatement of property taxes, the board voted 5-2 to reject that. The majority called it too soon to allocate such a large amount of money that hasn't been received yet.
The closing of Nitti Development's pending purchase of the 62 acres is scheduled for no later than Oct. 15. The school board's discussion of the anticipated money occurred before this week's Schaumburg village board approval of Nitti's proposal to build 149 single-family houses on the site.
The vacant property is bordered by Summit Drive to the west, Plum Grove Road to the east, Wise Road to the south and existing houses extending from Weathersfield Way to the north.
Cramer argued taxpayers were owed a timely decision on the future of the money, which he said belongs to them, because it should play a part in District 211's December decision as to how much property tax to levy and collect in 2021.
Several board members said the time for such a discussion was whenever the money changed from projected to being received by the district. Last year, a different prospective land buyer dropped out of the sale contract while still in talks with the village.
Board Member Anna Klimkowicz said it was an early priority of the board from when it first decided to sell the vacant land to ensure the money benefited students, for whom the prospective school site was first acquired 50 years ago.
She suggested input be sought from parent advisory groups and students to plan the use of the money for future budget years.
Klimkowicz was also among the 5-2 majority that voted against Cramer's motion to abate $4.5 million to taxpayers from the surplus realized by lower-than-expected costs during the last school year.
That money was already allocated to the coming budget, which includes a projected $8.6 million deficit even after that adjustment.
"There's so many variables this year I'm not sure what we can definitively address," she said.
Board Member Pete Dombrowski, who sided with Cramer on most of the meeting's financial votes, argued that just because the district's reserves can handle such a deficit doesn't mean ways to reduce costs and help taxpayers shouldn't be pursued.
Revenues last school year were 0.3% above projections, while costs were 1.4% less than budgeted largely due to savings experienced by the closure of the buildings in the spring due to the pandemic.
For the 2020-21 budget, total revenues are projected at $262 million, down 1.9% from last year's actual revenues. While property taxes are budgeted to grow 1.6%, their collection rate is budgeted at 2% less than normal in anticipation of a higher number of delinquent payments.
The $270.7 million in costs budgeted for the coming year reflect an increase of $12 million or 4.7% from last year's actual costs. The budget projects a full year's expenses rather than the reduced costs from last year's COVID-19 shutdown.
Upcoming capital improvements include restroom renovations budgeted for Fremd and Palatine high schools next summer.
The school board will conduct a public hearing on the budget just ahead of its scheduled vote on final approval at its next meeting at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, at Hoffman Estates High School, 1100 W. Higgins Road in Hoffman Estates.