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092702 School board to keep closer tab on budget
By FRANK NARDOZZI- THE RECORD REVIEW
The Bedford Central Board of Education's finance committee will get more information and keep a closer tab on the district's finances to avoid another surprise budget surplus showing up in August. two months after the close of the school year, as happened this year.
In a report to the school board on Wednesday night, finance Committee Chairman Mark Slivka
said that "the information-gathering and disseminating processes concerning Ills' surplus/deficit were insufficient last year.
The amount of tuitions paid to the district for schooling out of district students far exceeded that projected as late as mid-April In addition, a miscellaneous category was woefully under projected , he said.
Mr. Slivka said that the $820,000 budget surplus noted in August was significant when compared to the $2 million in budget cuts that the school administration was forced too make in its budget proposal last spring in order to meet the school board's targeted budget to budget increase of 5.75 percent.
"In order for the board to remain an independent decision-making body, it necessarily depends upon the administration to provide it with timely and sufficient information," Mr. Slivka said.
Other choices
With timely information, he said, the board could have decided to use the surplus to:
• reduce the tax levy upon residents,
• fund a project that would have otherwise have been cut,
• fund a teacher position that other wise would have been eliminated or
• increase needed employee benefit liability for certiorari reserves
As it turned out surplus was placed in the reserve fund after a vote by the board in August Mr. Slivka called that decision laudable.
"However," he said, "the decision-making process on Aug. 28 presented far fewer choices for the board than one in April would have."
The finance chairman said that in order to prevent such a happenstance from occurring again, the finance committee would discuss budget projections at every one of its monthly meetings.
Mark Betz, the assistant superintendent for business and administrative services, will highlight any budget problems, on both the revenue and expense sides of the ledger, and will provide a running list of tuition payments and miscellaneous revenue.
"The subcommittee has great faith in Mark's understanding of the importance of the matter and in his out-standing abilities," Mr. Slivka said.
Recap of last year
In his recap of what happened last year, Mr. Slivka said that Mr. Betz had informed the board that due to the World Trade Center disaster, the state's economic woes and the prevailing low interest rates, revenue for the 2001-02 school year would probably not reach projections
Combined with unanticipated healthcare, special education and transportation costs, Mr. Betz explained that it was possible that the district would show a deficit.
Just before the final 2002-03 budget was proposed last spring, Mr. Betz presented a revised forecast that projected a $75,000 surplus to be expected at the end of the school year on June 30. The board then finished its budget deliberations and approved a revised budget, which was later approved by district residents in mid-May.
At a board meeting in Aug. 28, Mr. Betz reported to the board that after receiving all information and completing a final analysis, the school district had, in fact, ended the last school year with a surplus of $820,000, mainly due to the unexpected amount of tuition paid by out-of-district students.
Mr. Betz explained at a finance committee meeting earlier this month that sometimes tuition payments are hard to calculate due to the approvals that are necessary, and sometimes delayed, by county and New York City social service agencies.