City leadership is scheduled to spend more than two hours discussing school finances today.
School leaders will be back in front of the city’s finance committee, before the meeting with full council in an afternoon work session to discuss the division’s budget.
At last month’s finance meeting two council members had lingering questions about the school system’s $440,000 deficit in the last fiscal year. The deficit has been the source of scrutiny since it was revealed in December after the release of the city’s annual audit report. Division officials were unaware of the deficit until the report was released six months after the fiscal year ended. An expected end-of-the-year surplus of $1.4 million also wasn’t realized.
During the Feburary finance committee meeting, two procedural measures to correct the deficit were not OK’d because of continuing questions. School officials went before the committee seeking approval to transfer $440,000 from the textbook reserve fund to a budget-balancing contingency reserve, and to ask council to rescind $1.3 million in appropriations in the school capital projects fund.
In addition to rescinding the $1.3 million, the board also asked money from two separate funding streams be transferred to cover about $162,000 that was spent, prior to the audit, on capital expenditures.
Councilman Jeff Helgeson, who chairs the finance committee and is one of three voting members on the committee, wanted more detail on the division’s expenditures. Councilman Scott Garrett, who is also a voting member on the committee, voiced concern as well, particularly about the school division’s policy that stipulates the textbook reserve fund must have $1.5 million. If the transfer is approved it would have $1.06 million.
The finance committee is expected to take up the housekeeping measures again today and receive additional information from school officials. The meeting starts at 11:30 a.m. and the schools business is one of several items on the agenda.
Following the committee meeting, full council meets for a work session at 1 p.m. School officials are expected to present the division’s budget for the next fiscal year, which totals almost $87 million.
The school board approved the budget March 17 and it is now in the hands of city lawmakers. City Council appropriates a third of the school system’s budget.
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