- May 1, 2024
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School Board Director of Finance Tom Tant presented an abridged version of 2010-2011’s 150-page report.
The School Board’s net assets decreased $3,379,748, or 2%, in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. But according to Finance Director Tom Tant, that’s good news.
“Last year,” he told the board, in a special meeting Monday, Sept. 26, “net assets decreased 6%.” That means assets fell $11,993,551 in 2009-2010.
“We’re doing the things we have to do, because our revenues are diving,” he said. “Our School Board is stepping up, and we’re balancing the budget.”
Tant cited an increasing student population paired with steadily decreasing state contributions. The way to combat the shortfall, he said, is to reduce expenses, which the board has accomplished through staff and school-time cuts, shutting down district offices for the first time ever a week in July and becoming more energy-efficient (6% less was spent on electricity this fiscal year than last).
As compared to 2009-2010, the School Board also spent nearly $12 million less in functions/program expenses this year, with most of those savings coming from lower construction costs.
On June 30, 2010, the district had spent $21,916,176 in facilities acquisition/construction projects. This year, that number is down to $6,664,246.
Instruction and training were two of the few expense categories that showed increases.
“We’re putting more money in the classroom, which is exactly what the public wants us to do,” Tant said.
Staff is also trying to scrimp while still investing in the future. Flagler County will have to build another school in about five years, Tant estimated. But by then, the board will have saved enough from impact fees and the half-cent sales tax to finance its entire construction in cash, which has never happened in the past.
“We’ve always been behind the growth curve,” Tant said.
With expenses on the rise and revenues falling, the finance director sees no other way of bringing funds into the district than through public investment.
“Right now, the economic forecast doesn’t look too good for 2012-2013,” he said. Total expenses next fiscal year, he added, are expected to exceed revenues by another $1.5 million.
“(That’s why) it’s just critical that the public go out and support that half-penny sales tax,” he said, which will be put up for referendum next year.
The 2011-2012 financial report was unanimously approved.
150 PAGES IN 100 WORDS
Other highlights from the School Board’s 150-page financial report are as follows:
• The general fund balance currently totals $8,922,439, or 10%, of total general fund revenues. This includes $284,614 of non-spendable funds, $3,384,942 of restricted funds, $1,532,748 of assigned funds and $3,720,135 of unassigned funds.
• The district’s total debt decreased this year by $4.68 million, or about 5%.
• General revenues total $119,825,064, or 92%, of all revenues. Program-specific revenues total $10,858,196, or 8%.
• Last year, general fund revenues totaled $122.1 million, and 91%, of all revenues.
• Expenses were $145,663,334 last year. This year, they were $134,063,008.
• $10,858,196 of the total year’s expenses were offset by program-specific charges, with the remainder paid from general revenues. Expenses exceeded revenues by $4,379,748.
Contact Mike Cavaliere at [email protected].
