By Gail Peckler-Dziki ~ Correspondent
In addition to the Central School Board and Administration, five district residents attended the Westosha Central annual meeting, most were staff.
The total budgeted levy for 2013-2014 school year is $8,217,893. This includes expenditures from funds 10, 30 and 80. Total expenditures and receipts anticipated for the 2013-2014 school year are $22,044,151.
The 10-fund is for normal school expenses such as salaries and benefits and supplies. The 30-fund is expenditures for the retirement of principal and interest of debt. The 80-fund is the community service fund and those are funds collected to run programs mainly for community use.
The assembled group also approved a $400,000 ceiling for short-term borrowing, allowing the school to look through various lending options should they need it in the future. You can see an example of these lending options here – https://www.atlanticunionbank.com/business/lending/. Although the district approves this annually, this has never been used. School districts on occasion use short-term borrowing to pay the bills while waiting fort tax payments from the municipality and the state. Many districts have a fund balance that is used for the same purpose. By using the fund balance, schools avoid paying interest on short-term loans. However, while schools may be able to avoid playing interest on short term loans, there are those who find that they have gained interest on their loans. This is why looking around for the best short term loans online and knowing the law that surrounds borrowing money is important.
A resolution for a $250,000 placeholder levy exemption was also approved. This adds an additional $250,000 to the levy. This increase in the levy limit was approved by the state legislature and gives school districts additional dollars to introduce energy efficient improvements to the building. It might add $7.50 to the mil rate.
In 2009, Central made $461,000 worth of energy efficient improvements to Central. The district was expected to recoup that cost within four and a half to five and a half years of the improvements. To date, the school has seen a $499,00 reduction in electric and gas expenses, ahead of the expected schedule.
The $250,000 will be set aside for more improvements, should they be indicated by a study underway and being done by Nexus Corporation. The board expects a report from the company at the Nov. 5 meeting.
The district may or may not spend the $250,000. If Nexus does not uncover more energy efficiencies to be made, that money will be put into next year’s budget.
No actual mil rates were available at the time of publication since the state legislature was still working on their budget.