LH takes steps to control budget
Caught off guard by financial woes, the Laurel Highlands School Board is attempting to take better control of the district’s budget. The board is also inviting anyone with suggestions on how they may best operate the school district to get involved in a strategic planning committee.
At a finance committee meeting Thursday, board members got a look at an expanded budget report that committee Chairman Tom Vernon said they can expect every month. The report details line items and shows where those items are to date, how much has been spent and how much is left.
Vernon said he wanted the board and public to know the school officials are working to pinpoint where the money is going and where it has gone. At the same time, Vernon said they hope to expedite the annual independent audit of the last fiscal year and get the results as soon as October.
“We need to see where we spent the money so maybe we can see did we overspend in transportation? Did we overspend in technology? I think the public needs to know that and we’ll feel better from the top down,” he said.
Vernon recalled that an audit by McClure & Wolf Certified Public Accountants of the prior fiscal year that ended June 30, 2001, showed the district had a shortfall of about $1.6 million and subsequently overshot the fund balance by about $790,000.
Director Palmer Sabatine commented that was the same time the former business manager advised the board members they had $80,000-plus to spare.
“You can’t blame the business manager,” director Julia Ciarrocchi said.
At one point, the directors haggled over who should have questioned the figures given them by retired business manager Ronald Aikins. Director Judy Browell noted that the board was getting a brief budget report compared to the expanded version shown them Thursday.
The audit that revealed the loss came out in April, and the school board in June got permission from the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas to float a $2.97 million bond issue to cover leftover obligations through this June 30.
Aikins retired in May, and the board agreed to hire a consultant to help prepare this year’s budget, ultimately hiring Joyce Estocak, who previously worked for the district, to lead the business office.
Superintendent Dr. Ronald Sheba said the 2002-2003 budget was prepared in six weeks and included such cuts as 11 teachers who were not replaced, an administrative assistant position left vacant at the high school and 12 teachers’ aides. The school board also raised taxes by 5.45 mills, 2 mills of which went to the bond issue repayment.
Estocak is meeting once a week with the administrators to review expenses and revenue.
Vernon said the administrators are looking at where the district is and is not spending money and whether any transfers are needed. Sheba said new Windows-brand software is also helping keep track of the expenditures.
They talked about some of the items that hurt the finances.
Sheba said the district suffered a loss of tax revenue from residences and businesses that successfully challenged their property assessments and got their tax rates lowered. The figure quoted in the past was about $1 million lost over two years in property assessment reductions.
Sheba said the district gets $354,000 less a year from the Uniontown Mall alone.
They also discussed one-time income that Vernon said helped keep them afloat, citing recovery of funds they lost several years ago in an investment fraud case.
They mentioned a $450,000 payout to a number of employees as the result of a statewide lawsuit over the issue of time and money lost when leaving a school district and then returning later at a different wage level.
Further, they said they need more money from the state’s annual subsidy. They talked about efforts to raise and better equalize the money school districts get each year from the state.
Sheba mentioned a grassroots effort based in Philadelphia called Good Schools Pennsylvania that is mobilizing people to lobby for school funding. He said he would like to get more information and possibly a visit here from a representative of the organization.
Meanwhile, Browell said she had information from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association that a team of retired business managers could be available to do a financial health report on the district after the latest audit results. She said there is a cost for the service and the team could go back five or 10 years or as far as the school board wants.
Browell is the head of the strategic planning committee that Sheba said is open now to new members.
Sheba said anyone interested may stop by in person or write to the school district office.
He said the invitation is going out to those who may want to get involved in the strategic planning process “because we don’t have the answers to all the problems and we have a lot of people in our community with expertise” in different areas. Sheba said he expects various action committees, like a finance committee, to evolve from the planning committee for the strategic plan.
“This is the time if you have concerns or suggestions for improvement, bring them in,” he said.