Excess & Deficiency Information

Excess & Deficiency for Regional School Districts

MGL Chapter 71, Section 16 B ½

Section 16B1/2: Excess and deficiency fund; surplus funds used to reduce assessments

Section 16B1/2. If the unencumbered amount in the excess and deficiency fund, so called, of a regional school district at the end of a fiscal year exceeds five per cent of its operating budget and its budgeted capital costs for the succeeding fiscal year, the amount in excess of the said five per cent shall be applied by the regional school district committee to reduce the amount to be raised by assessment on the member cities and towns in accordance with the terms of the agreement for apportionment of costs. The commissioner of revenue shall certify the unencumbered amount in the excess and deficiency fund, so called, of a regional school district, and the amount, if any, by which it exceeds five per cent of the district's operating budget and its budgeted capital costs for the succeeding fiscal year, at the end of each fiscal year and shall report such amount to the regional district school committee, the board of selectmen in each member town and the city council in each member city by December first of each year. The regional district school committee shall submit all information necessary to perform said certification to the commissioner of revenue at the close of each fiscal year but no later than October thirty-first. The regional school district treasurer shall recertify the amounts reapportioned to the treasurers of the several towns within thirty days from the date on which the district school committee votes to reduce the amounts to be raised by assessment. If the recertification is made after the annual town meeting referred to in the first paragraph of section sixteen B, the amount recertified shall be considered an amendment to the amount required to have been appropriated at that meeting without the necessity for further action by the town, and, if the annual assessment of taxes has not been made, the town assessors shall include only the amount so recertified in making the annual assessment of taxes under the provisions of section twenty-three of chapter fifty-nine.

This section shall be subject to the provisions of section thirty-four of chapter seventy-one and shall place no additional limitations on the budgetary authority of the school committee.

For calculating the maximum E & D under G.L. c. 71, § 16B½ as of June 30, 2017, the Bureau will use five percent (5%) of the district’s operating and capital budget for FY2018. 

Per 603 CMR 41.05 1(e): Expenditures from grant funds, revolving funds, trust funds and other funds that by law may be expended by the regional school committee without further appropriation, shall not be included in the budget. 

A summary of projected receipts and expenditures in such funds shall be provided to the members for informational purposes only along with the budget.

• E & D will be reduced by the amount of any school grant reported in deficit. 

• Rebated funds (e.g. energy rebates) received from a utility or other vendor cannot be reserved on the balance sheet and must be closed to the General Fund at the end of the fiscal year. 

• For FY2018, DLS will change the payment schedule for Charter School Tuition assessments and reimbursements to monthly. Although this means a change to sending district cash flow, it will have no impact on the budget. Since these estimates are included in the cherry sheet, districts are already budgeting for this expense. As always, final actual tuition payments, assessments and reimbursements will reflect updated enrollment changes.