Surplus balances school budget

By Matt Bower
Posted 11/12/15

After learning that the surplus for the fiscal year 2015 school department budget came in higher than projected, the School Committee approved the adoption of a revised FY 2016 budget Tuesday night …

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Surplus balances school budget

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After learning that the surplus for the fiscal year 2015 school department budget came in higher than projected, the School Committee approved the adoption of a revised FY 2016 budget Tuesday night that uses the funds to balance the current budget. The vote was 4-1, with Karen Bachus dissenting.

Prior to adopting the revised budget, Chief Budget Officer Anthony Ferrucci presented an FY 2015 year-end report in which he detailed how the surplus was greater than projected.

Ferrucci said the school department presented a preliminary year-end fiscal report at the July 14 school committee meeting using data as of July 2, in which it projected a net surplus of $1,017,313. He said that projection was achieved by expenses being below budget by $1,438,180, revenue being below budget by $478,618, and a budgeted surplus of $57,751. He said the $1.4 million savings in expenses was achieved due to surpluses in two areas: budget managers ($854,596) and salary and fringe benefits ($583,584).

In the July report, Ferrucci indicated the budget manager surplus could increase due to a number of purchase orders, open and on file at the time, being turned in and closed with no further expense incurred.

Not only was the budget manager surplus above the July report by $645,490, but the salary surplus was above the report by $596,952, although the fringe benefit surplus was below the report by $84,141, resulting in a total increase in surplus of $1,158,301 (due to savings achieved on the expenses side of the budget).

In addition to expenses being below July 14 projections by $1.1 million, Ferrucci said revenues were above projections by $247,412, resulting in a total surplus increase of $1,405,713, which when added to the projected $1,017,313 FY 2015 surplus brings the total FY 2015 surplus to $2,423,026.

Ferrucci pointed out that $143,164 of the $2.4 million surplus are committed funds for activities approved by the school committee but not completed by June 30, 2015. Those activities consist of $83,385 as part of the contract with Symmes Maini & McKee Associates, the outside consultant hired to develop a long-term educational and facilities master plan for the school district, and $59,779 for converting existing fiscal, payroll and human resources software to an integrated software program called ALIO.

Removing the $143,164 of committed surplus from the overall FY 2015 surplus, leaves $2,279,862 of unrestricted surplus, however at its Aug. 11 meeting, the school committee voted to use $1 million of the then projected FY 2015 surplus to reseed a number of initiatives into the FY 2016 budget.

Due to a number of unexpected expenses in the current FY 2016 budget, Ferrucci advocated for the adoption of the revised FY 2016 budget, adding $1,423,829 to offset those expenses, which the school committee approved.

Included in that $1.4 million is the $143,164 of FY 2015 committed surplus, $803 of additional miscellaneous revenue, and the remaining $1,279,862 of FY 2015 unrestricted surplus.

Ferrucci said the largest expense came in not achieving breakage (savings due to staff cuts and retirements covered by less senior staff). The original budget was for $3 million in savings, but it fell short by $1,419,091.

Other expenses include $150,905 in tuition payments for charter schools, which exceeded the budget by 12 students; $75,000 for costs associated with tree removal due to the summer micro burst storm and additional precautionary trimmings; and $8,000 due to costs associated with a reduction in funding for Internet connectivity.

Helping to reduce these expenses, the following savings were also achieved: $299,367 in fringe benefits, due to $215,056 in savings achieved in the pension budget, as the school department budgeted a higher cost for proposed settlement of the teacher pension, and $50,908 in dental cost reductions; $43,333 in professional development due to transferring from consultants to substitutes and stipends; and $29,631 in miscellaneous adjustments across all line items.

Had a surplus not been achieved in FY 2015, Ferrucci said the school committee would have been faced with making more than $1 million in cuts Tuesday evening in order to balance the FY 2016 budget.

Comments

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  • Justanidiot

    I hope that the school committee will give this surplus money to the teachers. They don't have a contract and have boat payments to make.

    Thursday, November 12, 2015 Report this

  • falina

    I hope they use some of that surplus money on the STUDENTS!

    Wednesday, November 18, 2015 Report this