School board finishes up with budget

McCook Public School board member Tom Bredvick described 2006-07 as "a thin budget environment," but fellow board member Jim Coady said it's "not at a point where we're digging through the couch to make payroll."

Board members were discussing this year's budget at a special meeting Wednesday evening, putting the final touches on a proposed budget of $21,359,169.50.

Superintendent Dr. Don Marchant, finance director Rick Haney and board members face several financial challenges this year:

* The tax valuation of the school district did not increase significantly -- from $421,327,501 in 2005 to $421,805,623 in 2006, an increase of only $478,122. Historically, the school district has seen increases, depending upon the economy, of $5 million to $10 million a year; one year's increase was $17 million.

* McCook will be working with a state aid figure of $4,817,085, which is based on last year's enrollment, not the anticipated increase of approximately 75 students this year (from 1,420 to 1,495). State aid that Districts 41 and 8 -- the Class I's whose students are now attending school in McCook -- would have gotten this school year will be allotted to McCook next school year.

Despite these challenges, the proposed tax levy for the general fund is down, from $0.958412 in 2005-2006 to $0.93660 in 2006-2007. This proposed tax levy is well under the state's levy limit of $1.05.

Bredvick said that the difference between the 2006-2007 general fund of $4,439,253 and the 2005-2006 general fund of $4,244,226 -- $195,027 -- is basically the difference between the cost of operating McCook and McCook plus the two incorporated Class I's.

The levy for the bond, to pay off the creation of the new single-site preK-3 elementary school and a figure that is not subject to the state levy limit, will be $0.139115.

As the budget is written now, the school district will need $4,933,317 in taxes -- $4,439,253 for the general fund and $494,064 for the bond fund.

Board member Mike Gonzales said Wednesday evening that the proposed general fund tax levy of $1.052440 "is really tight, with the absorption of two other schools. I don't want to see us come up short at the end of the year."

Board President Greg Larson asked his fellow board members, and particularly members of the board's finance committee, to run the figures using a range of $1.042 and $1.062 for the tax levy.

Board member Jim Coady said it would be nice to build a contingency fund somewhere besides the depreciation fund, but admitted that that's not going to happen with a flat-lined valuation and the loss of state aid.

Bredvick agreed that the depreciation fund "will become more and more and more important," to the district's budget. "We can't wait 20 years to fix things," he said. "We have to plan for projects, or the levy takes the hit."

Bredvick strongly recommended developing a capital improvement plan for the district's buildings, pointing out that the junior high is now 40 years old and the senior high is 53 years old.

Board member Diane Lyons agreed that the board needs to do something about a contingency fund and its cash reserves fund.

She continued, "It's a good budget, yet tight," adding that its particular challenges may be telling the board to slow down on expenses this year. Lyons said, "The information in the budget will help us decide what projects to look at and what we can wait on."

Board members will discuss the budget further at their regular meeting Monday, Sept. 11. The final adopted budget has to be submitted to the Nebraska Department of Education by Sept. 20.