Dearest reader,
Lady Budgetdown has reached the budgets and audits for Breckenridge Community Schools.
And this is where all of those individual receipts we've been looking at finally begin to form a picture.
Let's start with the General Fund.
In 2023–24, Breckenridge's final amended budget showed:
$10,001,244 in revenue
$9,867,384 in expenditures
+$133,860
Ending fund balance: $1,597,814 — 16.2% of expenditures. 52556.pdf
Then the ink changes color.
2024–25:
Revenue: $9,408,850
Expenditures: $9,596,899
Deficit: −$188,050
Ending fund balance: $1,409,393 — 14.7%
2025–26 final amended budget:
Revenue: $10,085,899
Expenditures: $10,145,540
Projected deficit: −$59,641
Ending fund balance: $1,349,752 — 13.3%
And now 2026–27:
Revenue: $10,049,481
Expenditures: $10,102,488
Projected deficit: −$53,007
Projected ending fund balance: $1,296,745 — 12.8% of expenditures.
So the district's own documents show a fund balance moving from roughly $1.60 million to a projected $1.30 million across this period.
But—and this is an important but—Lady Budgetdown isn't going to wave around the 2024–25 deficit without giving you the rest of the receipt.
The audit identifies a $594,104 state-aid overpayment/correction related to incorrectly reported property-tax valuation, which was owed back to MDE.
Context matters.
The audit also reports that Breckenridge exceeded final General Fund appropriations in seven functions, including Added Needs by $191,262, Facilities Construction/Improvements by $34,961, Instructional Staff by $32,728, Pupil Support by $20,996, and Operations & Maintenance by $19,787.
Nothing there automatically means something improper happened.
It means Lady Budgetdown noticed it. There is a difference.
And then we arrive at debt.
Because Breckenridge is asking voters for another bond this November, I wanted to know what was already sitting in the ledger.
As of June 30, 2025, Breckenridge had:
2012 Bonds: $670,000 outstanding
2020 Bonds: $11,510,000 outstanding
Total existing principal: $12,180,000.
Add remaining interest and the scheduled principal-and-interest obligation was approximately $13.57 million.
The district's budget documents also show a 3.80-mill debt levy. 72500.pdf
And one smaller number made the spectacles slide down my nose:
The district originally budgeted $244,818 for athletics in 2025–26.
The final amended amount?
$369,507.
That's $124,689 more — roughly 51%. 72499.pdf
Again:
Not an accusation.
A receipt.
And that's really the story of this step.
Breckenridge isn't sitting here with no fund balance and no financial resources.
But the General Fund trend is moving downward, the district already has substantial voter-approved bonded debt outstanding, and another bond request is headed to voters.
Those facts deserve to sit next to each other before anyone asks taxpayers for another yes or no.
And that, dearest reader, is exactly where Lady Budgetdown is headed next.
Step 6: the 2026 Breckenridge bond proposal.
Fetch the spectacles. This one deserves its own page in the ledger. 🧐📜
With receipts and respect.
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