Final Amended Budget Of Fiscal Year Approved By School Board
Final Amended Budget Of FY Approved By School Board
By Alex Haglund
The Nashville Community High School Board was presented with an amended 2015/2016 budget at their regular monthly meeting, held on Tuesday, May 17 in the NCHS Media Center.
The budget presented was in deficit, having been amended to take into account all of the year’s expenditures and income (so far), it was not as far in deficit as Superintendent Ernie Fowler originally planned.
“Any time that you see red ink on a budget, that’s not good,” said Fowler.
However, school districts going into deficit has been the reality of the situation across the state for the better part of a decade now, due to the policy of prorating general state aid payments and cuts to other school funding.
The educational fund ended the year at a deficit of $329,479, which was under the originally budgeted deficit of $379,289.
The operations and maintenance fund was at a deficit of $12,067, compared to the originally budgeted deficit of $53,000.
Transportation had a deficit of $63,185, compared to the initially budgeted deficit of $132,000. The difference in this fund was that Fowler said that the district received one more payment than he originally budgeted for, three instead of two.
The working cash fund ended the year with a positive balance $70,126. This fund’s balance combined with the other three funds’ deficits means that the district ends the school year with a net deficit of $334,605 in these four organizational funds.
Fowler stated that the deficits, while high, were lower than originally anticipated due to the initial budget planning for worse and expecting even less. “That’s where we are and that’s the way things are.”
The June meeting was pushed back one week from its regular date, so that the budget can be on display for the full 30 days required by law, and then, at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 27, a public budget hearing will be held, followed by the regular school board meeting where the board will vote on whether to approve the school year’s final amended budget (the fiscal year ends three days later, on Thursday, June 30).
