LADY BUDGETDOWN | NORTHPORT PUBLIC SCHOOL
📊 STEP 5: AUDIT, BUDGET & FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
2024–25 Audit | 2025–26 Final Budget | 2026–27 Original Budget
We've examined Northport Public School's enrollment, administrative expenditures, staffing, and employee compensation.
Now Lady B is looking at the district's audited financial position, its next two budgets, and what the independent auditor reported.
And there are some interesting findings.
💰 GENERAL FUND BALANCE
Northport's 2024–25 audit reports:
2024 Fund Balance: $4,048,146
2025 Fund Balance: $4,297,552
📈 An increase of $249,406, or 6.16%.
The district's subsequent budgets project that fund balance remaining at $4,297,552 through 2026–27.
That represents a substantial financial reserve for a district serving approximately 126 students during the 2024–25 school year.
Northport's financial position is an important part of this discussion, particularly when examining its spending decisions.
📋 WHAT DO THE NEXT TWO BUDGETS SHOW?
Comparing the 2025–26 final budget with the 2026–27 original budget:
🔹 Basic Instruction: +5.17%
🔹 Added Needs Instruction: +12.94%
🔹 General Administration: -3.98%
🔹 School Administration: +8.16%
🔹 Business Support: +3.39%
🔹 Operations & Maintenance: +4.59%
Total budgeted revenues and expenditures increase from $6,632,000 to $6,864,205.
Both budgets are balanced as presented, with no projected overall surplus or deficit.
These are budget projections, not audited actual expenditures.
🔎 WHAT DID THE 2025 AUDIT FIND?
The independent auditor issued an unmodified opinion on the district's financial statements.
The audit also reported no material weaknesses or reportable noncompliance under its Government Auditing Standards testing.
However, the audit identified something else.
⚠️ A BUDGETARY VIOLATION.
According to the audit, expenditures exceeded appropriations in three categories:
🔸 Business Support: $835 over budget
🔸 Facilities Acquisition/Improvements: $30,774 over budget
🔸 Student Activities: $774 over budget
Combined, those overages totaled $32,383.
The audit states that the excess expenditures were covered by available fund balance and higher-than-anticipated revenues.
This distinction matters.
An unmodified audit opinion does not mean every expenditure remained within its approved budget. The auditor specifically documented these budgetary violations.
💵 WHERE IS THE REVENUE COMING FROM?
Northport's 2026–27 budget projects:
📈 Local Revenue: +6.18%
📉 State Revenue: -7.17%
📉 Federal Revenue: -2.64%
Local revenue represents the overwhelming majority of the district's projected General Fund revenue.
Northport operates as an out-of-formula district, making its local property tax base particularly important to its financial structure.
💭 THE BIGGER PICTURE
Over the course of our Northport review, we've documented:
🏫 Enrollment declining 27.45% over ten years.
📊 Actual administrative expenditures increasing 8.96% over the same decade.
👥 Administrative staffing declining from 3.00 to 2.00 FTE.
💰 A General Fund balance exceeding $4.2 million at the end of FY2025.
⚠️ Three expenditure categories identified in the audit as exceeding appropriations.
None of these figures should be examined in isolation.
Northport's substantial reserves are a sign of financial capacity, while the audit's budgetary findings raise a separate question about adherence to approved appropriations.
And that brings Lady B to a question worth asking:
With enrollment declining, substantial financial reserves, and changing expenditure priorities, how is Northport evaluating the balance between maintaining its financial position and directing resources toward the students it serves?
📚 SOURCES:
Northport Public School, June 30, 2025 Financial Audit.
Northport Public School, 2025–26 Final General Fund Budget.
Northport Public School, 2026–27 Original General Fund Budget.
Michigan Department of Education, Bulletins 1011 and 1014.
👑 Lady B | With Receipts and Respect.
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