School system ended last fiscal year with budget surplus

With only minor adjustments left to be made, Grady County School System finance officer Dan Broome reported this week the school system ended fiscal year 2015-2016 with an operating surplus of approximately $870,000.
“I’m a big believer in budgets and I use the budget to see how good a job we did at predicting our costs,” Broome said.
While some governing agencies constantly amend their budgets to adjust for spending, Broome says he never makes adjustments to the general fund. He said, working with other school personnel, the system operates within its budget.
This year the school system spent nearly $470,000 less than he had budgeted to spend and revenues were $696,000 more than projected.
Broome had budgeted for a deficit of approximately $295,000 in the 2015-2016 budget, but due to an increase in revenue and lower than expected expenses the deficit was covered and the system’s cash reserves were increased to a year-end total of approximately $4.7 million.
“I have a few more adjustments to make but that surplus number will increase slightly, not go down. We ended the year well and it is one of the reasons we can hold down the millage rate,” Broome said.