ERCSD Finance Committee Meeting

June 1, 2005 – 5:00 PM

SAU Office

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:                   Patty Lovejoy, Kris Magnusson

 

ADMINISTRATION PRESENT:    Walter Pierce, Nathan Lunney

 

Chair opened the meeting at 5:00 PM.  The following agenda items were discussed.

 

1.      Approval of Minutes:  Kris Magnusson suggested that recent committee meeting minutes should be approved.  She then moved the approval of the minutes from the April 6^th and May 4^th meetings as previously presented.  Patty Lovejoy seconded the motion and the motion passed.

 

2.      ERCSD Trust Funds Summary:  Nathan briefly reviewed the summary of trust funds.  The Capital Reserve, Special Education Trust, and Maintenance Trust account balances were noted.  The trust summary provided at the next meeting will identify the new FY 2005-06 appropriations as well as revised balances.

 

3.      FY 2005-05 Fund Balance Projection

a.       Revised Revenue Estimates:  Nathan offered again the projection of revenues for the current fiscal year.  He explained that this was changed only slightly from last month.  The total revenue projection still suggests that there should be excess revenues of around $990k.  This total will fund the $490k of warrant articles approved at the March District meeting and provide for nearly $500k of fund balance to offset tax impact this fall.

 

b.      Updated Appropriations Projections:  Nathan reviewed the final FY 2004-05 appropriations projection.  The variances are essentially the same as noted in previous meetings.  Two adjustments have been made that net an increase in the projected balance.  The Adult Ed function now shows an overage of more than $45k.  Nathan explained that this is offset by revenues but had been incorrectly reduced to zero in previous projections.  Nathan also reported that he had overestimated benefits costs in past projections, so the Benefits function is now showing a positive balance instead of an overage.  These two adjustments contribute to the new projection of just over $200k in appropriations fund balance.

 

Kris Magnusson asked about the ongoing question of State Adequacy Aid.  In past meetings, Nathan has updated the committee on the status of legislation on education funding.  He had no additional information at this time.  Kris wondered if the Board should be taking steps to manipulate the budget to generate savings to offset the anticipated loss in state aid.  There was consensus that savings of that magnitude in the FY 2005-06 budget would only come from reductions in staff.  Kris suggested that there must be programs that are less staff-driven like athletics which could be cut or put on pay-for-play basis for savings.  Nathan reminded the committee that the budget for FY 2005-06 was a carefully developed projection of real costs and it would be unreasonable to expect “savings.”  Reduction of the budget would require real reductions in deliverables.  It was also noted that the pay-for-play suggestion would be very controversial.

 

4.      Additional Appropriation for Unanticipated Federal Project Revenues:  Nathan presented the committee with a summary of FY 2004-05 federal projects.  The total amount of approved federal funds exceeds our gross appropriation for the current year.  Grants are projected to total more than $1.135 million.  Our gross appropriation was $778,335.  Nathan asked that the committee request approval at the next Board meeting for an additional appropriation of $400,000 as a formality for the auditors so that we can fit the total revenues within our appropriations.

 

5.      EHS Building Project Update:  Walter updated the committee on the building project.  He and Nathan presented the committee with an initial budget projection for FY 2006-07 in order to highlight the fiscal challenges that may exist.  The initial draft is based on broad estimates and not specific analysis.  It was intended to draw attention to the impact of the facility changes in that budget.  The committee will continue to consider those impacts in its development of the budget beginning early this fall.

 

6.      Next Meeting Date:  Tentative…Wednesday, August 3, 2005 at 5:00pm at the SAU office.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Nathan Lunney