Monticello Schools budget for Fiscal Year 2013 are looking surprisingly grim.

Monticello Schools are in a unique situation in central Illinois in that they do not rely on state funding as much as other schools. The Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax, CPPRT, makes up over half of the Monticello budget, and Superintendent of Monticello Schools, Dr. Vic Zimmerman says they received some disappointing news recently in relation to CPPRT.

[audio:91712grimbudget1.mp3] [/audio]

Because of the instability of CPPRT, Monticello Schools save when it is high, giving them something to fall back on when it is low. Dr. Zimmerman says this situation is nothing new for the district, but if the trend continues, it could get interesting in regards to their future budgets.

[audio:91712grimbudget2.mp3] [/audio]

CPPRT is dependent of the success of the business climate in Illinois, however, Dr. Zimmerman says this drop in their CPPRT revenue is not a result of the business climate but rather the state holding back corporate tax refunds to it's businesses. Dr. Zimmerman says to make up for holding back, it will cost CPPRT recipients almost $200-million.

[audio:91712grimbudget3.mp3] [/audio]

While it could be easy to blame the state for this, Dr. Zimmerman cuts them some slack on this because he says it is a tough estimate to each year because they have to make a decision on how much money to hold on refunds before they know how much everyone is paying in.

While CPPRT is not the most consistent revenue source, Dr. Zimmerman feels they cannot complain because over time, it has served them very well.