Business & Finance Department

Stephanie Eagen
Assistant Superintendent for Business and Employee Services
586-797-1200

Jill Tomyn, Executive Director of Business and Finance

Jeff Henderson, Director of Purchasing Services & Risk Management

Evelyn Bihl, Controller

Cynthia Wals, Director of Employee Benefits and Reporting

Robert Brady, Director of Food Services

The UCS Department of Business and Finance is responsible for investments, overall cash management of district funds and budgets. Each year, the department creates an annual operating budget and presents it to the Board of Education for approval each June. Amendments are made in February and finalized the following June.

Business and Finance also has departmental supervision of Accounting, Budget & Finance, Food Service, Internal Audit, Payroll, and Purchasing.

District Budget Updates

Below is a video on the 2011-2012 audit recently presented to the Board of Education.

UCS earns praise for clean 2011-2012 audit
after adopting higher reporting standards 

Utica Community Schools continued to earn strong grades under a more rigorous financial reporting process adopted by the district, according to external auditors.

Representatives of Plante & Moran noted that the 2011-2012 audit again demonstrated that the district meets a high level of fiscal accountability with the greater reporting standards, called a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR).

“We have issued an unqualified opinion, which, if I was speaking in educational terms, means you have earned an A plus,” said Donna Hanson, CPA and partner in the auditing firm of Plante & Moran. “The Board of Education and administration should be commended for their overall management of district finances and its work to dedicate resources toward student achievement.”

The CAFR reporting process follows guidelines established by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, a private, non-governmental organization that promotes standards that promote greater levels of reliability and use for financial reports.

The 2011-2012 audit reported overall revenue levels of $263.5 million and included a $470 permanent reduction in per pupil aid from the State of Michigan. 

Included in the revenue is nearly $14 million in one-time only funding sources through budget transfers and use of federal EdjuJobs funding. Auditors noted that these sources will not be available in future years and recommended caution as the district begins making plans for the 2013-2014 budget.

Expenditures for the district were $253.7 million, an overall decrease from the previous school year and under the originally adopted budget.  Auditors commended the Board of Education for its efforts to reduce health care costs. The auditors noted, however, that these savings were offset by an increase in state-mandated retirement increases, an area of the budget over which the district does not have any control.

Auditors noted that overall benefit expenditures were consistent with prior years, however, as a result of increases in state-mandated retirement costs.

The audit also reported an increase in the percentage of the overall budget classified as classroom and school level expenditures.  Auditors noted that Utica Community Schools continues to have a higher percentage of instructional funding in comparison to like school districts.