Trustees Adopt $117.4 Million FY 2027 Budget After Public Hearing in Effingham

Lake Land College | August 17, 2026

Article Summary: The Lake Land College Board of Trustees unanimously adopted Resolution No. 0826-001 on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, approving a $117,431,686 all-funds fiscal year 2027 budget following a public hearing at which no member of the public spoke. The operating budget is balanced at $38,985,315, and the administration removed $1.3 million in contingency from operations in favor of a reserve drawn from investment income.

FY 2027 Budget Key Points:

• Total all-funds budgeted expenditure of $117,431,686, a decrease of $238,363 from the FY 2026 budgeted figure of $117,670,049.
• The Education Fund and Operations & Maintenance Fund operating budget is balanced at $38,985,315, a net increase of $594,472 over FY 2026 excluding the State Universities Retirement System pass-through.
• The $22,399,785 SURS pass-through was moved out of the Education Fund and into the Restricted Purposes Fund.
• The public hearing opened at 6:08 p.m. and closed at 6:09 p.m. with no public comment; the vote was 8-0, including Student Trustee Wyatt Draper.

EFFINGHAM — The Lake Land College Board of Trustees on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, adopted the college’s fiscal year 2027 budget, approving $117,431,686 in expenditures across eight funds after a public hearing at the Effingham Technology Center drew no comment from citizens.

Board Chair Tom Wright formally opened the public hearing at 6:08 p.m., asking anyone wishing to participate to sign in, with the President’s Office maintaining the list and filing it with the official minutes. The only comment came from Trustee Larry Lilly, who chairs the Finance Committee. Lilly said the committee met the previous month to review the FY 2027 budget, that the budget received its first reading at the July 13 meeting, that it had been received in final form, and that the Finance Committee “unanimously recommends approval as presented.” The hearing closed at 6:09 p.m.

The board later adopted Resolution No. 0826-001 on a motion by Lilly, seconded by Trustee Gary Cadwell, carried 8-0 with all seven trustees and the student trustee voting yes. It was the first meeting since at least June at which no trustee was absent; Trustees Chuck Deters and Scott Montgomery, both absent in July, were present.

Fund-by-Fund Breakdown

The adopted resolution sets the following appropriations: Educational, $34,220,779; Operations & Maintenance, $4,764,536; Operations & Maintenance (Restricted), $10,612,266; Bond and Interest, $7,268,050; Auxiliary Enterprises, $4,714,948; Restricted Purposes, $53,511,265; Audit, $160,035; and Liability, Protection & Settlement, $2,179,807.

Vice President for Business Services John Woodruff’s July 21 memo to President Dr. Josh Bullock states the fiscal year began July 1, 2026, and ends June 30, 2027. The budget was placed on public display beginning the day after the July 13 first reading, satisfying the 30-day display requirement, and the administration “received no public questions/comments related to the fiscal year 2027 budget.” Woodruff wrote that “there have been no changes to the budget as originally presented.”

According to the president’s letter in the budget document, dated July 1, 2026, significant year-over-year changes include increases of $137,349 in the Education Fund excluding SURS, $457,123 in the Operations and Maintenance Fund excluding SURS, $808,695 in the Operations and Maintenance (Restricted) Fund and $506,650 in the Bond and Interest Fund. Decreases include $739,590 in Auxiliary Enterprises, $1.7 million in the Restricted Purposes Fund excluding SURS and $262,938 in Liability, Protection and Settlement.

New Budget Process Changes Year-Over-Year Comparisons

The budget document states that a new budget development process and updated tools were introduced for FY 2027, with expenditure categories expanded “for greater accuracy and aligned more closely with broader expense objects.” A mid-year review of the FY 2026 budget using the new tools identified several expense categories as misaligned within the approved budget, and adjustments were made to the expenditures by object. Adjusted FY 2026 estimated actual expenditures are printed in the budget book to allow direct comparison.

On the revenue side, the document attributes $1,211,824 in additional revenue to an increase in the tuition rate and student fees coupled with anticipated enrollment growth, and $983,000 to anticipated additional property tax revenue from increased equalized assessed valuations and the Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax. Offsetting decreases include $886,434 from changes to state appropriations for credit hour reimbursement, equalization and career and technical education, and $370,891 from adjustments to Department of Corrections and Department of Juvenile Justice override revenue.

Expenditure increases include $616,551 for staffing changes and compensation adjustments, $1,825,194 for remediating prior-year budget discrepancies in employee benefits combined with anticipated benefit cost increases, $431,854 for utility rate increases and $677,447 for reconciling prior-year budget variations in contractual services. Reductions of $1,925,483 in general materials and supplies, travel and meeting expenses, fixed charges and related contingencies include the $1.3 million contingency removal.

The Contingency Decision

Per the July 13 meeting record, the college faced a funding gap of approximately $1.8 million during budget development. To balance the budget, $1.3 million in contingency was removed from the operating budget, and the Finance Committee approved using up to $1.3 million of investment income — funds traditionally directed to the restricted Fund 3 — as a contingency reserve for unexpected capital needs such as HVAC failures, roof repairs and aging infrastructure. Those funds will not be added to the operating budget and will not be spent unless needed. Any expenditure over $25,000 from the reserve comes to the full board for approval; items below that threshold will be reported in the monthly financials.

The FY 2027 budget shows no new positions added, though some open positions may be repurposed to align with strategic direction. Capital spending from Fund 3 is budgeted at $10,612,266, drawn from tax levies and $1,000,000 in bond proceeds. Total equalized assessed valuation across the district’s 15 counties stood at $4,557,996,547 for 2024, a 10.18% increase over 2023.