Ronan schools deal with $600K budget gap
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RONAN — Although the Ronan school district is more than $600,000 short for the coming year’s budget, taxpayers won’t have to make up the difference, and programs won’t take major hits.
During a May meeting, school board members decided to use a portion of more than $3 million held in reserves to fill the more than $607,000 gap, Superintendent Andrew Holmlund said. The expenditure won’t impact other projects and will leave enough in reserves to handle any emergencies, he said.
Board members could have gone to voters and asked for approval of a tax levy to make up the difference, but as in years past, the board decided against such a step.
“That’s the historical movement of the district,” Holmlund said.
The elementary level general fund would have been $421,212 short of the $5,820,862 needed for the coming year’s expenditures, according to a budget breakdown in the board’s meeting packet. The high school general fund would have fallen $186,080 below anticipated expenditures of $2,336,704. Both the budgets are more than the current year’s general funds of $5,663,509 for the elementaries and $2,278,313 for the high school.
With other funds, including those specific to transportation, retirement and food service, added in, the district plans to spend $10,654,274, up from $10,332,867 for the current year.
A raise for the district’s classified employees isn’t included in next school year’s budget.
During a school board meeting earlier this month, Holmlund recommended pay scales remain the same next year as this year for the district’s 119 classified employees, who fill positions in areas such as janitorial, food service and transportation. Pay and benefits already are on par with similar districts’ classified employees, Holmlund said.
This year the district spent slightly more than $3 million on its classified employees, he said. During June’s board meeting, school board members will receive a recommendation from Holmlund for rehiring. The number of rehires will depend on performance reviews and available funds, which could impact numbers, Holmlund said.
“My projection is that we’re going to be very close,” he added.
The budgets are scheduled for approval in August.
