Sangamon Sun

Charlotte A. Montgomery, Chief School Business Official of Ball Chatham Schools, recently gave an update on aspects of the business office.

During a Sept. 28 Ball-Chatham CUSD5 school board meeting, Ms. Montgomery started with an overview of everyone who works for the business office, including herself as Chief School Business Official, Ashley Fiorito in Accounts Receivable and Grants Manager, Emily Leonard as Payroll Manager, Jennifer Hindahl as Accounts Payable Coordinator, and Darla Olmsted in the role of Office Coordinator. She also went through the list of the ten individuals who work with the businesses department for each specific school.

She gave a brief look at the major cash inflows and outflows for the fiscal year of 2023, including Payroll (salaries and benefits) $43,321,320 in payroll, salaries, benefits, $62,028,018 from accounts receivable and various grants, and Student Based Activity Funds Expenditures of $610,856. She said they expected about $129,000,000 to move in and out of the district’s accounts throughout the year.

There was then a brief overview of all the various tasks that the business office completes every year. This includes the entire budgeting process, approval and acceptance of any and all state and federal grants, staff and district tax issues, dealing with levy situations, legal maintenance and record retention, and all internal and external audits.

"So this is not meant to be a deep dive. I didn't want to overwhelm you, but the intent of this presentation is just to show you the sheer volume of the different areas that we have to cover in a year," Montgomery said at the school board meeting. "Each slide is listing the major tasks of the business office. Some tests are conducted by one person. Other jobs compose multiple parties. Some are very complex, while others are straightforward. Some tasks may take an hour to complete, while others, like the budget process, can take months."