Laurel seeks consultant for budget
Laurel Highlands School Board is looking for someone to help out with the school district’s budget. The school board on a unanimous vote Wednesday authorized Superintendent Dr. Ronald Sheba and solicitor Gary Frankhouser to select and hire a consultant to review the district’s financial status and develop a budget for the 2002-2003 school year.
Director Tom Vernon, who heads the board’s finance committee, said after the meeting that the board needs the help since they got the retirement notice of business manager Ronald Aikins and learned through the latest annual audit that they had a negative unreserved fund balance of more than $790,000.
He said the district also has to contend with a slight increase in the state subsidy at the same time they expect a large increase in the retirement contribution. Other costs for the district are set to go up as usual.
“Mr. Aikins won’t be around and we need an idea of what’s going on,” Vernon said. “We want to get all the facts and figures.”
Vernon said this year’s budget projects a fund balance of more than $400,000 but there are still several months to go before the fiscal year ends June 30. Vernon said the school board has yet to consider where they may cut costs and that they will be having budget meetings each month.
Vernon said he expects the consultant to go over the audit and finances to say “what needs done” in preparing the next budget. He said he also expects Aikins to be involved.
When the board approved Aikins’ retirement after four years with the district, they set the effective date as June 30.
Meanwhile, the board during votes on the monthly cafeteria report and hiring the consultant talked about subsidizing the cafeterias with the general fund and also about wiping out the cafeteria fund’s running debt to the general fund.
Considering 1 mill of property taxes is worth about $180,000 in revenue, Director Judy Browell reasoned they could dedicate 1 mill to 1.5 mills if they decide to subsidize the cafeteria fund from the general fund. There was some debate over how much it would actually cost to cover the cafeteria fund.
Cafeteria manager Gene Doria said as of March the accounts payable was $469,152 and the cash available was $266,602, so the difference or deficit of $202,550 is what the school district would have to come up with if the operations of the cafeterias were to end.
The school board also in financial matters approved the audit report for the year that ended June 30, 2001 that was prepared by McClure & Wolf Certified Public Accountants and Consultants of Uniontown. McClure & Wolf representatives outlined the report at a work session Tuesday, stressing the fund balance issue.
Findings concerned business management issues with errors and miscalculations in accounting and bookkeeping, cafeteria production records concerning disposition of leftover food and cafeteria inventory concerning the high school and Marshall Elementary School.
Also among Wednesday’s business items, the school board accepted the retirement of Michael Carbonara as high school principal after 13 years of service, effective July 1.
Carbonara had been on sick leave with administrator Dr. Gary Brain substituting.
The board voted to post the high school principal position, although there was some debate.
Director Angelo Giachetti said he thought the board would want to look to moving some staff around to fill the position and Browell made a similar comment, adding that she wanted to get a handle on the budget first.
Sheba and Frankhouser explained the position has to be posted according to the teachers’ contract.
The board also accepted the retirement notice of Robert Sefcheck, a fifth grade teacher at Hatfield Elementary School, effective May 30. They quoted 35 years of service for Sefcheck.
The business manager, high school principal and fifth grade teacher retirements were approved under one motion that Director Mary Conway made “with regret.”