SD67 anticipates growing surplus
After scrambling for most of the year to cut costs, School District 67 is now closing in on an even bigger surplus than was projected just a month ago, but that extra cash will just barely buy a new financial safety net.
Trustees at a business committee meeting heard
Tuesday that staff is now forecasting an $830,000 surplus for the current fiscal year ended June 30. That’s up from the $552,000 cushion that was forecast in May, and way up from a $1.2-million deficit that was on the books last October.
The windfall is due mainly to additional funding from the B.C. government, plus massive savings from the COVID-19 shutdown, including $332,000 on substitute teachers, $293,000 on services and supplies, $291,000 on support staff and $131,000 on utilities. Those were offset by a $505,000 overage on employee benefits and $64,000 overage on other professionals.
Trustee Dave Stathers expressed concern about how the school community will view the 2019-20 surplus after the board at its May meeting agreed to cut the equivalent of 23 full-time jobs to shave $2.5 million from its 2020-21 budget.
Acting superintendent Todd Manuel explained the $830,000 will just barely bring the district’s operating reserves, which were non-existent at the start of 2019-20, within a target range of 1% to 3% of the total $70-million budget.
“It also allows us to avoid being in a structural deficit position,” said Manuel.
In other business Tuesday, the committee was expected to a approve a pair of policy amendments, including one that spells out in detail when the district may vary from the 1-3% operating cushion, and requires a report to the board each year at budget time.
The second policy change requires the superintendent to receive board approval before spending money from the local capital account.
The need for board oversight became apparent this spring, when trustees were surprised to learn staff had spent $2.5 million on new computers and software over the past two years.
Both moves were recommended by Joan Axford, an independent financial expert hired to review the 2019-20 budget as a result of public concerns regarding transparency and communications.