Aug 16, 2004 Board Meeting -- More on the Budget

Submitted by Amy Dawson

Another bit of good news is that there is an $81,000 transportation surplus. This rosy financial picture is largely due to transportation cuts. Another bright spot is that revenue for District 3 is $139,000 more then revenue out (approximately $4.9 M in $4.8 M out). The bad news is that the margin between revenue in and revenue out is slim, and expenses usually rise. Superintendent Hill said that we “stopped the bleeding” and that having a surplus will mean that a reserve fund can be built.

Mr. Hill sounded a little bit like Greenspan when he talked about District 3’s reserve fund. Right now our district relies on a Tax Anticipation Fund. If the district builds enough of a Reserve Fund, it could borrow from itself (while waiting for tax revenue to arrive), instead of relying on a Tax Anticipation Fund. Significant cuts and the referendum passage made it possible to start building a reserve. Class sizes are up due to the cuts.

The school lunch program lost $22,000 last year, this year it lost $1000. Milk will cost more this year due to increased milk costs.

The Board unanimously approved a five year contract with Johnson Control.