Accountants with a national financial consulting firm will help Peoria Public Schools complete a two-year backlog of audits, with the district on track to adopt its annual budget by the end of next month.
The District 150 Board of Education voted unanimously Monday night to approve the two temporary accountants from NOW CFO at an hourly rate of $115 to complete the 2024-25 and 2025-26 audits.
The agenda memo indicates the accountants will work 40 hours a week “for as long as it takes to get the bank accounts and the general ledger amounts to match.”
However, Superintendent Jerry Bell said his previous conversations with outgoing chief financial officer Michael Curry led him to believe the firm’s work would take about two months.
“We’re not looking to have, you know, this contract extended indefinitely,” Bell told the board. “We’re looking at more or less two months, a good solid two months, of getting our ’24-25 books as well as our ’25-26 books in order.”
The agreement also includes hiring a controller at $211 per hour to oversee the process and coordinate communication between the bookkeepers and the administration.
“They’re going to be giving me a weekly update,” said Bell.
The contract also has the district paying a $2,500 retainer to NOW CFO. That amount will be credited to the final invoice once the work is completed.
Curry’s resignation as CFO is set to take effect Aug. 31, and he did not attend the meeting. Bell relayed information from Curry regarding the status of the tentative budget to the board.
“As a reminder, this tentative budget was developed utilizing the best available operational and historical data at the time of report preparation,” said Bell. “The expenditures are based on trends over the past two years.
“As more concrete state and local revenue data is obtained, the budget will be adjusted accordingly prior to final adoption between now and Sept. 28.”
Bell said the tentative budget does not address the district’s current cash position of “approximately $78 million in liquid or semi-liquid funds.”
District 150 has a job opening listed on its website seeking to fill Curry’s vacated CFO position, with a salary range of $110,000-$170,000.
