MANSFIELD, Ohio – Laura Brown, project manager for the Ohio Auditor’s office, forecasted a $5.5 million surplus in the Mansfield City School district’s general fund for fiscal year 2015, at the board’s monthly meeting Tuesday evening.
“Revenues are up and expenditures are down,” Brown said while attending the meeting at the Raemelton Administration building, 856 W. Cook Rd.
That is welcome news after the school district was placed in fiscal emergency in 2013. A financial oversight commission was formed and officials had to cut about 100 teaching positions and staff in order to help get the district’s finances in order.
Brown presented the board with a draft copy of the financial forecast report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015. The Auditor of State’s office worked closely with the district’s treasurer, Rosetta Stephens, to secure correct numbers and ensure the district would end the year in the black.
Once Brown reviews the report with officials from the financial commission, the document will be certified and available to the public.
The main reason for the surplus, Brown said, is a significant increase in property taxes and foundation money from the State of Ohio in unrestricted grants-in-aid.
“Another reason for the increase in the balance would be a decrease in expenditures,” she said. “That’s mainly due to the very difficult cuts that the district had to make before the school year with the significant loss of staff.”
Also, no money will be transferred out of the general fund at the end of the fiscal year because the district will not have to cover a deficit in the self-insurance fund.
“The past several years the general fund has had to make a transfer at year-end to cover the deficit in the self-insurance fund,” Brown said. “There wasn’t enough money going into that insurance fund to pay for all the claims on health insurance that were coming in and it’s not looking like that will be needed this year, which is a good thing.”
Brown said that last year over $1 million was transferred out of the general fund to cover the self-insurance fund.
A $1.3 million increase in property taxes in 2015 was not included in the previous financial forecast.
“Although voters approved a new emergency levy in November 2013, collections did not begin until January 2014,” the report stated.
It also looks like the district will have over $32 million in foundation revenue from the state, which is also an increase, Brown said.
Executive session
Following Brown’s report and in the middle of the agenda, the board adjourned to an executive session, “to discuss negotiations; to confer with an attorney for a public body regarding pending or eminent litigation.”
After the two and a half hours, the board reconvened and approved a resolution that children must be age 5 by August 1 to enter kindergarten. There will also be no change in the 2015-2016 school fees, Superintendent Brian Garverick said.
When asked about the length of the executive session and what it entailed, Garverick had no comment.
The next Mansfield City Schools Board of Education meeting will be at 5 p.m. April 21 at the Raemelton Administration Offices.
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