School District Returns

More Than $60K To The Town

By John Voket

An unaudited end-of-fiscal-year report from the school district to the town outlines more than $60,000 in funds being returned to town coffers from several sources, which will be applied to next year’s budget to reduce taxation. This practice on the part of both the government and school sides of the budget is a local charter requirement.

A cover letter to the report from Superintendent Janet Robinson outlines an overage in the district’s appropriated budget totaling $7,688, while unliquidated encumbrances from the 2007 fiscal year stand at $432.

Dr Robinson explained that fees in the revenue line of the district’s budget were also overestimated, and will return $3,230. State and other miscellaneous revenues were $54,493 higher than budget estimations, netting a return of $51,263 to town coffers.

The report currently reflects additional encumbrances, or committed expenditures carried forward equaling $3,086,618 — about $2.4 million for salaries and $664,629 in accounts payable for supplies and services that were not invoiced by the end of the last fiscal year.

Accounts payable items remaining open, Dr Robinson said, include textbooks, instructional supplies, printing, contracted services, equipment, and nearly $47,000 to fill a new district 20,000-gallon fuel oil tank.

Dr Robinson said some transfers made near or at year’s end were required to “fund technology purchases, additional transportation services, an enhanced security system at the high school, and state mandated ‘green’ cleaning supplies.”

Not including the aforementioned encumbrances, the year-to-date expenditures for the district for salaries totals $39.4 million; benefits cost expenditures are at approximately $9.5 million; and additional spending for professional services were reported in excess of $488,000.

Year-to-date, student transportation services cost the district about $4.2 million, and out-of-district tuition topped $791,000. For utilities, the district has spent $1.3 million to date on electricity for the year, $152,601 for natural gas or propane, about $806,000 for fuel oil, and $478,000 for vehicle fuel.

Spending for professional services, including third-party administration of retirement funds and district legal costs, topped $488,000 to date. These expenses can vary greatly from year to year, according to the school business office.

One of the top in-district revenue sources outlined in the report came from “pay-to-play” sports fees, which were budgeted at $87,550. Parking permits were anticipated to generate another $20,000.

Year-end transfers included:

*$27,000 to cover vacation payout for two administrators, one retirement, and one resignation

*$15,000 to cover the cost of substitutes during staff training days

*$16,000 to cover emergency repairs at the high school and middle school

*$13,000 to provide for speech therapy services and staff/curriculum development

*$30,000 to cover transportation department benefit costs and additional in and out of district transportation services

*$45,000 for plant supplies, including paper dispensers required to meet new mandated “green” guidelines

*$33,000 to purchase technology equipment after the 2009 budget for such purchases and services was cut

*$35,000 to provide local matching funds to receive a Department of Homeland Security grant, which were in turn used to purchase a security building, radios and transmitters for the high school

The report concludes with some narrative comments, including the statement that: “The Board of Education should feel confident that the needs of the school system have been met as a result of carefully thought out discussions at public [board] meetings with sensitivity to the community and in compliance with all legal requirements and expectations.”

A copy of the school district’s full year-end report is available for readers by clicking on the story link at www.newtownbee.com.