The Wauwatosa School District is dealing with multimillion-dollar budget errors.
The new chief financial officer, Scot Ecker, points to miscalculations by the person who previously held his job.
"I have worked with over 100 school districts in my career," Ecker said. "This is the first time, I’ve seen anything like this where the CFO didn’t present an updated budget over 13 months."
Ecker is two months into his job with the Wauwatosa School District.
While reviewing finances and specifically the fund balance, Ecker learned the district overspent roughly $8 million more than reported in the 23-24 budget. He also found a $4.2 million error in the 24-25 budget.
Watch: Parents react to Wauwatosa School District multimillion-dollar budgeting errors
"We owe the community an apology. From my chair, I apologize. This shouldn't have happened," school board member Michael Meier stated.
"Yes, the fund balance is lower than we wanted it to be, but it's important to know that those investments for our teachers and direct impact on our students in the classroom," school board member Liz Heimerl-Rolland explained.
"This wasn't a nefarious spending. This wasn't spending on things we should not have spent money on. It unfortunately was a budget put together poorly."
"I’m pleased that we have the right CFO now, but it would be inappropriate for me to try to make any estimation as to why we landed in the position we’re in," Superintendent Demond Means said after the meeting.
"Some of it honestly is confusing," Deb Falk-Palec said.
Falk-Palec has lived in Wauwatosa for several years and makes it a point to attend school board meetings.
"I love this community. I think we have a great school district. We all need to understand how all of this works so we can make sure our district becomes better," Falk-Palec stated.
To make up for the overage the district is working to reduce the budget for health insurance premium payments by employees, minimizing out-of-classroom time for teachers, leaving several positions unfilled, and budget reductions from line-item reviews.
"They need to look at and decide what's important and not in the way of teachers and things in the classroom, more of the administrative side," resident Margaret Fritsch tells TMJ4 News.
Fritsch is concerned about the timing of this discovery as residents prepare to vote on a pair of school referendums. If approved, taxes would go up more than $800/year for the average homeowner. The average home price is $400,000.
"We want to stay here but with the taxes going up and up and up, it's pushing people out and it's not allowing younger families with children to move in to fill our schools," Fritsch said.
However, Means pressed that if the referendums are not approved it will exacerbate the budgetary situation.
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