CLEARFIELD – After a 3-mill property tax increase for the current-year, the Clearfield school board unanimously approved, 8-0, its tentative general fund and subsidiary fund budgets without any millage increase for 2012-13 at Monday night’s combined committee and board meeting.
Board members Dave Glass, Mary Anne Jackson, Rick Schickling, Jennifer Wallace, Phil Carr, Dr. Michael Spencer, Susan Mikesell and Larry Putt all voted in favor. Tim Morgan was absent from the meeting. The board will finalize its upcoming-year budget at its June 25 regular board meeting.
The proposed budget anticipates $31,433,372 in revenues and expenses in the amount of $33,263,094, resulting in a deficit of $1,829,722. The district’s property tax millage will remain at 92.84 mills, according to Business Administrator Sam Maney.
Maney said state revenues were “flat” in his proposed budget, and he also indicated that federal revenue is declining. However, he said the declining federal revenue will be offset by additional local revenues. In addition, he said the total budgeted expenditures exceeded last year’s budget by $99,250.
According to him, the proposed budget included $700,000 in salary decreases because of retirements and position collapses. It also included a $532,000 reduction in severance pay since an incentive wasn’t being offered.
He said the budget projected a 5 percent, or $263,000, increase in health insurance rates as well as in its state retirement contribution rate to 12.36 percent, or $470,000. The budget also projected an increase in the cyber-charter tuition costs by $675,000.
Maney said he’d projected $32,287,918 in revenues and $32,699,090 in expenditures for the current-year, a deficit of $411,172 that will bring its fund balance to $6,335,624 on June 30. Maney noted the district may break even since his revenue projections were conservative.
Next year’s expected $1,829,722 deficit will leave the district’s fund balance at $4,505,902, according to budget paperwork.
The board also tentatively approved two proposed capital projects funds with the first being its daily operating budget. In 2012-13, Maney said this will include the athletic complex improvements.
He projected this fund balance to end at $1,783,240 on July 1 and budgeted $437,475 in revenues and expenditures of $2,056,876 for the upcoming year. He said the balance of Qualified School Construction Bonds, $187,225, will be used toward the athletic complex improvements.
The second proposed capital projects fund is for the high school expansion and renovation project, which has an estimated cost of $34 million. Maney projected its fund balance to end at $8,788,702 on July 1. He projected revenues of $9,875,500 with expenditures of $15,150,505 for the upcoming-year.
Maney said the district first borrowed $9.8 million for the high school expansion and renovation project in October 2011. He said the remaining borrowings will be during the 2012-13 and the 2013-14 fiscal years.
He said the cafeteria fund’s balance is projected to be $562,720 on July 1, and it has budgeted revenues of $1,340,812 and expenditures of $1,423,562 in 2012-13. He said this fund is completely self-supporting and doesn’t receive any general fund contributions.
He said its upcoming-year budget does include breakfast and lunch price increases to comply with Section 205 of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. He said lunch prices will be raised by 10 cents and breakfast prices by 5 cents.
Maney said breakfast prices are proposed at $1.20 for the elementary schools and $1.25 at the middle and high schools. Lunch prices are proposed at $2.10 for elementary and $2.20 at the middle and high schools.
