GIBSON CITY — The Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley school board approved a deficit budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year following a public hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 24, but Superintendent Jeremy Darnell said he would not be surprised if there is no red ink to be seen by the time the fiscal year ends on June 30, 2026.
Overall, expenditures are expected to outpace revenues by $636,200 in the district’s nine funds, with combined income of $18,465,500 compared with expenses of $19,101,700. Deficits are projected in five funds.
Those estimates are based on conservative revenue projections, though, and liberal projections for expenditures, Darnell noted.
“So when we have a $637,000 deficit budget, the liklihood is it’s going to be really close to balanced, if not a little bit on the plus side,” Darnell said.
Among the district’s four operating funds, a $715,200 deficit is anticipated, with revenues of $16,422,300 and expenditures of $17,137,500. Deficits are projected in three of those funds: the educational fund (-$380,000), operations and maintenance fund (-$372,000) and transportation fund (-$106,200). The fourth fund — the working cash fund — projects a surplus of $143,000, with revenue of $143,000 and no expenses.
Darnell said the educational fund, with projected revenue of $12,845,300 and expenditures of $13,225,300, is expected to see a loss of revenue through the proration of “mandated categorical” payments to the district, but just how much of a loss remains to be seen. To be safe, Darnell said he budgeted a conservative number for revenue, reflecting an anticipated 3% loss.
“For this year, specifically, we know that the state of Illinois is going to prorate our mandated categoricals — our reimbursements for transportation, for special ed services, for food service — so we’re going to have some proration,” Darnell said. “This is the first year that we’ve had a real prognosis from the state that they’re going to start reducing some of these things.”
On the expenditure side, the budget for the educational fund reflects potential increased costs of 3%, but Darnell said those numbers could end up more or less.
“You just don’t know until you have to purchase something,” Darnell said.
The transportation fund, with projected revenue of $1,147,000 and expenditures of $1,253,200, is also expected to be affected by a reduction in mandated categorical payments from the state, Darnell said.
“The reason I project a deficit there is, if the state does what they’ve done before and they don’t send the fourth (mandated categorical) payment, then we’ll have a deficit because they didn’t pay their bill,” Darnell said. “But if they send all of their payments, we’ll actually have a very small surplus, which is what you want. You want to be just a little bit ahead of what you’re expected expenditures are, so you have a little bit of margin for error.”
The operations and maintenance fund, with projected revenue of $2,287,000 and expenditures of $2,659,000, is expected to run a deficit because of a couple of large capital projects. It reflects about $2.3 million in costs for the replacement of the high school’s track and the elementary school’s playground, the construction of a new playground for preschoolers at the elementary school, and the re-purposing and expansion of the middle school’s recreation area to include a gaga ball pit, two pickleball courts, a volleyball court and a concrete walking path, Darnell said. It also accounts for the $450,000 replacement of the middle school’s heating, ventillation and air-conditioning system, which is 26 years old and broke down for two weeks last school year, Darnell said.
However, the timing of when some bills for those projects arrive next summer will determine whether they are paid through this fiscal year’s budget or next fiscal year’s instead, Darnell noted.
“Our fiscal year ends on June 30, so if the bills come before June 30, we pay them in this year’s budget; but if they come after July 1, we pay them in next year’s,” Darnell said.
Darnell noted that the big-ticket projects are being paid through funds already on hand — not additional property taxes.
“We’re not actually levying any new money for these projects,” Darnell said. “It’s all being paid through fund balances.”
The district’s five restricted funds, meanwhile, project a combined end-of-year surplus of $79,000, with revenue totaling $2,043,200 compared with expenditures of $1,964,200. Deficits are projected in the debt service fund (-$51,000, with revenue of $570,000 and expenditures of $621,000) and tort fund (-$46,000, with revenue of $825,000 and expenses of $871,000). Surpluses are projected in the capital projects fund (+$40,200, with $40,200 in revenue and zero expenditures), IMRF/Social Security fund (+$21,800, with revenue of $494,000 and expenses of $472,200) and fire prevention and safety fund (+$114,000, with $114,000 in revenue and no expenditures). The tort fund has higher expenditures this fiscal year due to a 23% increase in the district’s property casualty insurance costs along with some expensive recent legal fees, Darnell said.
End-of-year fund balances are expected to be: $6,415,542 in the educational fund, $2,635,973 in the operations and maintenance fund, $98,951 in the debt service fund, $662,182 in the transportation fund, $205,335 in the IMRF/Social Security fund, $182,073 in the capital projects fund, $1,113,287 in the working cash fund, $796,333 in the tort fund and $727,915 in the fire prevention and safety fund. The four operating funds’ combined ending balance is projected to be $10,826,984.
“We’re just in a really good place as far as an overall healthy fund balance,” Darnell said. “Our tax rate — last year it was $5.32; this year it’s $5.03. So our tax rate actually dropped pretty significantly. We still got more money than we did last year — and most people saw a tax increase — but that’s because property values are going through the roof.”
Darnell said he plans to present the school board with a tentative version of the district’s tax levy for 2026 in October. Whether the district’s tax rate will be lowered once again is a question Darnell could not yet answer this week.
“It’s going to be a game-time decision, because we don’t know yet exactly how much the state’s going to prorate,” Darnell said. “If the state prorates the mandated categoricals, we lose $200,000 in revenue. The evidence-based funding, which is what the state pays us for our general state aid — that is going to stay flat. We know that’s zero. So, if that stays flat and we see a reduction in mandated categoricals, … we have to ensure that, either through property value increase or rate increase, we’re able to maintain the revenues necessary to do our work while also looking at other ways we can trim spending. … We had been on a really good, postiive trend, and now, all of a sudden, we’re starting to flatten out a little bit. So, will we be able to continue to reduce (the tax rate)? I don’t know. Can we work hard to make sure that we’re at least staying flat? That’s our plan.”
Other business Also during the meeting, held in the board room in the unit office at 307 N. Sangamon Ave. in Gibson City:
The board approved the hiring of Amy Butler as a paraprofessional at an hourly pay rate of $19; Mike Allen as supervisor of onsite digital alternative classroom at an hourly pay rate of $55 for up to 550 hours this school year; Creighton O’Boyle as middle school basketball coach; Tess Horsch as high school head softball coach; Torri Ferguson as middle school kindness club sponsor at a rate of 3% of the base; Brynn Ginger as head scholastic bowl coach; and Bryce Cherry as junior varsity scholastic bowl coach.
The board voted to accept the resignations of Rheanna Monical as a paraprofessional, effective Sept. 12; Tess Horsch as high school girls’ track coach, effective immediately; and Patrick Bean as junior varsity baseball coach, effective immediately
The board approved Ross Harden as girls’ intramural basketball coach for the 2025-26 school year.
The board approved several volunteer coaches, including Natalie Deschepper for volleyball; Zach Price for baseball; Bryce Barnes and Cade Elliott for boys’ basketball; Andria Dibble and Karly Corley for cheerleading; Claire Retherford for girls’ basketball; and Aaron Carter, Cody Moody, Owen Duke, Grant Horsch, Jacob Horsch and Ryan Gream for wrestling.
The board voted to allow Miranda Leonard and Keri Dornbusch to split the duties of Interact Club sponsor for the 2025-26 school year.
The board approved Brittany Schreffler and Sarah Rehberg as Title I sponsors and Claire Kassitas as middle school geography club sponsor for the 2025-26 school year.
The board approved a 3% stipend addition for Taylor Spiker as special education job coach for the 2025-26 school year.
The board approved a memorandum of understanding with the paraprofessionals union.
The board approved a crisis plan and threat assessment plan.
The board approved the Ford County Special Education Cooperative’s budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
The board approved a consent agenda, which included approval of the destruction of audio recordings of closed sessions dating through the end of March 2024; the approval of a senior class trip to Monticello on Sept. 3, the Kindness Club’s trip to the Villas of Holly Brook in Gibson City on Oct. 6 and the FFA chapter’s trip to Indianapolis, Ind., on Oct. 29-31; and the approval of a $2,500 donation from the after prom committee for the class of 2026.