January 2, 2024 at 7:30 AM - Budget Committee Meeting

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to review the natural gas rates that were locked in for January 1, 2024 through March 31, 2024. Attached please find the document from Symmetry.

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to review the projected end of the year balance. The 23-24 Fund 10 budget approved by the School Board in October was balanced and included a $100,000 contingency. As of the end of December, the school board has not approved any costs to come out of the contingency budget. 

There are three other items to note: 
1) The utility expenditures could exceed the utility budget by a significant dollar amount. 2022-23 expenditures were $1.3 million while the 2023-24 budget includes $1.12 million for utilities. Locking in 50% of our natural gas rates reduces the likelihood of a significant overage. 
2) Transportation fuel clause expenses could result in an additional budgetary impact of $75-100,000. 
3) Postemployment benefit payments have not been budgeted for the last several years. The budget committee makes a decision on this payment towards the end of the fiscal year. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to discuss the draft of the 2024-2025 budget process. Attached please find the budget timeline. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to review enrollment projection scenarios. Attached please find a document that includes historical  Third Friday in September counts and several enrollment projection models. Administration is recommending a budget planning process utilizing the 5-year average for enrollment planning. The most significant take-away from the attached document is that we will have a reduction in our student count of 113 students by moving our existing enrollment from one grade to the next. The 5-year average is projecting an increase of 100 new students, which nets out to a -13 overall. 

The open enrollment attachment calculates capacity based on both our December 2023 enrollment and the 5-year average enrollment that is based off of the September student count. We have good news to share in that our December enrollment is +12 compared to the September enrollment. Administration is recommending the amount of open enrollment slots highlighted in yellow. Administration will be seeking feedback on the options for determining open enrollment capacity. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to take a first look at a high level five-year budget projection. This budget projection assumes the following:
-Enrollment changes per the 5-year average enrollment projection model
-School finance system continues with $325/student increase in the revenue limit formula
-Non-recurring operational referendums that total $8.127 million continuing past 2024-25. You can add $8.127 million to the deficit for each year past 2024-25 if you assume the non-recurring operational referendums do not continue.
-Expenditures increase at a CPI level for salary plus compensation systems, health insurance increases at 3%, transportation and utilities increase at 5%
-ESSER funding is removed

The five-year budget projection provides an initial look at the deficits that are created because of the difference between revenues increasing at $325 per student and inflationary increases in expenditures. 

Description:  Administration will review the next steps in the 2024-25 budget planning process. The preliminary budget planning document will be updated based on any board member feedback. Administration will be adding comparable expenditure data to this document for review with the budget committee in February. 

Description:  The purpose of this agenda item is to review our contract with Lamers. Our seven-year contract with Lamers expires at the conclusion of the 2024 summer school session. We need to make a decision to either extend the existing contract or seek proposals in early 2024. 

Administration is recommending a three-year contract extension for the 2024-25 to 2026-27 school years. The district will be opening two new school buildings during this period of time. In addition, the district may be conducting a traffic study and considering other policy changes. A full request for proposal process would be less challenging after we get through the opening of the two new schools. Administration is present a three-year contract extension. Attached please find the original contract and the extension. 

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