Kalkaska - Budgets and Audits General Fund

[Shadowninja]

Dearest reader... your Lady has reached the part of the Kalkaska ledger where audits meet budgets. 🪶

And, as always, those are two different creatures.

The audits tell us what actually happened.

The budgets tell us what the district expects to happen next.

So first, the receipts.

Over four audited years, Kalkaska Public Schools reported:

📜 2021–22: +$509,000
📜 2022–23: +$2,000
📜 2023–24: +$749,000
📜 2024–25: −$332,000

Meanwhile, the General Fund balance moved:

$3.73M → $3.73M → $4.48M → $4.15M

Three positive years. One negative year.

Nothing there sends your Lady sprinting through the drawing room clutching her pearls.

But now we turn the page.

The district's current budgets project the General Fund ending at approximately:

🪶 $3.61 million in 2025–26
🪶 $2.60 million in 2026–27

So the direction of the ledger has changed.

Kalkaska built its reserves, reached $4.48 million, dipped to $4.15 million in the latest audit, and is now budgeting for that balance to decline further.

Does a budget projection guarantee that will happen?

Certainly not, dearest readers.

Budgets are plans.

Audits are receipts.

And your Lady never confuses the two.

For now, we simply place both upon the ledger and keep turning the pages.

Because there is still one rather important question left to ask in Kalkaska. 🪶

With receipts & respect.

#LadyBudgetdown #KalkaskaPublicSchools #MichiganSchools #SchoolFinance #Transparency #TheReceipts #WithReceiptsAndRespect