School district building $2.6 million reserve

The Weston County School District No. 1 board of trustees approved a $15.7 million general fund budget on July 20 for fiscal year 2022-23, which is a little higher than last year’s. According to business manager Deb Sylte, the school expended $12.8 million in the previous fiscal year, leaving a $2.6 million carryover to add to the $13.5 million received in revenue.
One of the largest expenditures in the district’s budget is always wages and benefits, and that is especially true this year after a $787,369.20 total increase in raises for school district employees was factored in, as previously reported by the News Letter Journal. The wage increase made organizing the budget more difficult than usual, Sylte said, but with steady enrollment numbers and the surplus from last year, the district could afford to operate on a budget slightly higher than last year’s.  
The carryover is higher than normal, Sylte said, and several factors contributed to that, including the district receiving COVID-19 funds and $81,000 in E-rate (universal service Schools and Libraries Program)  money, as well as cuts that were made to the budget. Those budget cuts included not replacing staff, removing the seven-year curriculum and cutting $123,000 from the building budget. 
“Last year, we thought the state was going to cut our funding, so we made some pretty severe cuts,” Sylte said. “I feel very comfortable defending why we have a higher carryover.” 
The carryover helped Sylte build the raises into the budget, but she is concerned about the long-term sustainability of making those ends meet. 
“With the $2.6 million, we’re fine this coming year and maybe the next year, but once you use that carryover, I think that’s why we had the attrition plan. And I know it’s hard to make the cuts, but we need to make those cuts,” Sylte said. “To sustain a budget, we are going to have to continue to do things like that …  it might not be as easy down the road.” 
The district will also be receiving about $842,000 for its major maintenance budget, which is about $33,000 higher than last year’s. Due to the interest rate and $1.3 million the district has in the bank for such purposes, this budget totals $2.2 million. 
Some of the major maintenance needs identified in the district include HVAC projects, roof valley repairs at Newcastle Elementary School, replacing interior lighting, resurfacing the playground, refinishing gym floors and other miscellaneous projects. 
Superintendent Brad LaCroix said that there are some future “wish-list” projects to keep in mind that are not in the budget. Some of these include replacing the football field with a synthetic surface for $1 million, updating the auditorium seating and gym bleachers and possibly adding a ramp to help address challenges in the elementary school parking lot. 
Due to E-rate money, the tech budget was higher this year, but Sylte also put extra funds into the allotments for gas and diesel, utilities, special education and substitute teachers. 
“I put extra money in the ‘subs’ because we increased sub rates,” Sylte said. 
The federal funds budget, which includes grants and funds things like special education and the district’s after-school program, totals $5.8 million. 
Additionally, the capital construction budget, which will be used for a security project, totaled $122,000. The lunch fund expenditures last year reached $374,000, but due to some credit, she was able to set aside $465,000 for this year’s lunch budget. The recreation district currently has $94,000 in the bank and received $151,000 in taxes. Dual enrollment tuition was increased, and the cost of textbooks landed at $90,000. 
Trustee Tom Wright asked if the pie graphs breaking down the budget could be placed on the website, and Sylte suggested making the entire budget available on the school website, wcsd1.org.