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School matters

Dunkirk school board approves $45.7 million budget

OBSERVER Photo by Andrew David Kuczkowski Dunkirk school district’s Business Manager William Thiel, pictured, presented the budget for the 2018-19 school year.

The Dunkirk Board of Education unanimously approved the district’s $45,728,385 budget for the 2018-19 school year. The tax levy will increase 2 percent, or $195,000, in the budget and residents may vote on the budget on May 15.

Dunkirk’s Business Manager William Thiel presented the budget on Tuesday. To pay the $45.7 million budget, the district will dip into its reserves.

“On the revenue side of things, I highlighted what is new since the last review,” Thiel said during a slide presentation. “We did receive our final state aid number and it was up, somewhat, but certainly not enough. … Total revenue totals $42.7 million, that’s up 3 percent. We have a budget of $45.7 million, so we filled the gap with reserves. This will be the first time we designate reserves using part of our tax certiorari reserve and money from the retirement to pay the ERS (Employees’ Retirement System) contribution.”

Thiel noted that the general fund balance for the district was over $20 million, which Thiel stated as healthy, but future planning is needed. Those funds will help the short-term deficit in the coming years.

The appropriated funds went up 5.29 percent, Thiel reported, which he attributed much of that gain coming from the BOCES’ P-TECH program. That payment will be a one-year impact.

“We have to absorb the first year,” Thiel said.

The P-TECH program will pay off in future years, he added.

Thiel spoke about the need to open a new capital reserve account as the current one is soon to expire in accepting more funds. The business manager said if the district has allocated funds to put aside, it will need a reserve account to be available. That was approved by the board unanimously with the preface that no funds will be immediately applied to the reserve. It was given the OK and will have a max of $1 million and can gain funds for 10 years.

The district also approved a school resource officer for the remaining part of this year and next school year. The budget allocated $80,000 for the SRO, which will be provided by the Dunkirk City Police Department. The Dunkirk City Council approved the SRO position and the district is awaiting the approval from the police department’s PBA.

Thiel summarized the budget in his final few slides.

“We have the NRG situation with a declining transition aid. We could only partially offset that with the foundation aid increase of $430,000 and a tax levy (total) of $195,000. So, our revenues are not going up fast enough. Appropriation’s growth: The (school teacher’s) salary increase, which is contractual. We had some staffing changes of adding three new positions and trading three for three.”

The board was prepared for the budget’s impact on reserves and the deficit the district will take on now and in the future. Taking money from the reserves is a short-term plan for the district. Thiel noted in a post-meeting interview with the OBSERVER that there is a group that is actively looking into the situation for future solutions.

“There is a lot of strategic planning happening in the district,” Thiel said, “involving the board and community members trying to really understand the revenue shortfalls that are going to be in front of us in the future and to put us into an expense structure that we can sustain for the long term. This year is kind of a transition year.”

Twitter: @ByKuczkowski

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