Advertisement Superintendent Ron Perry told the board on June 23 that additional work needs to be done in order to balance the budget. Although the district will get an estimated $190,000 in additional money from the state, that is more than wiped out by the required 3.8 increase in salary and benefits, which is about $206,000.
Add fuel costs — which are projected to increase $158,000 — and other additional costs going up, and the budget hole is about $250,000, Perry said. That’s after the district trimmed about $400,000 in other costs, such as a new bus and 4-year-old kindergarten.
“Where do we go from here?” Perry asked.
The wildcard in the budget projection is trying to predict where fuel costs will land. The budget projects fuel oil prices at $5 a gallon, and the district uses about 40,000 gallons a year.
Perry said the district could do nothing and hope that fuel costs drop, it could tap into its fund balance, cut additional staff or ask voters to approve a levy override referendum. The district last approved a recurring referendum in 2000 and it expired following the 2005-06 school year. That referendum raised $920,000 over that time, but because the board did not levy to the maximum it could have each year, it did not collect an additional $550,000.
“As a board, we’ve always taken the approach that we’ve only taken money that we’ve needed from the taxpayers,” Perry said. “That’s coming back to haunt us a bit.”
Board President Bob Hardie said he thinks the bubble will burst soon on fuel prices, which would help make the budget more manageable.
“We’d really look like we had egg on our face if we went for referendum and crude went down $50 a barrel,” Hardie said.
Perry said the district could save money by trimming bus routes, but a route was cut about five years ago and any other cuts would make the routes longer. Making children walk farther to the bus stops is another option.
Perry said not to expect any legislative solutions to help districts.
“There’s no real stomach for anyone doing any relief for schools right now,” he said. “No one wants to touch it.”
Board member Rod Everson said the answer may be a combination of additional budget cuts, a referendum and perhaps some luck with fuel prices. He spoke against dipping into the school’s fund balance of about $500,000, which is only 7 percent of the district’s total budget when a balance of 10 percent is recommended.
“It’s a bad time to go to referendum but not a bad time to talk about what we’ve been doing in case we had to go to referendum,” Everson said. “I’m hoping we have enough support in the community.”
After some additional discussion, the board took no action. Perry said the budget discussion will be brought up again in July.
In other business, the board:
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