New Wethersfield super says FY23 budget is 'super'
The Wethersfield Board of Education adopted the school district’s FY 2023 budget at its September meeting.
Superintendent Andrew Brooks described the budget as “balanced” at a public hearing held prior to the regular monthly meeting. Brooks told board members that Initial projections show that the budget should be balanced across the major funds. He said there are anticipated deficits in the Health Life Safety fund and the Capital Projects fund since the revenue from the bond sale to finance the projects was included in FY22 and the expenses will be incurred during FY23 and FY24.
The State of Illinois requires school districts to create a Deficit Reduction Plan if three times the deficit in its operating — Education, Operations and Maintenance, Transportation, and Working Cash — is more than the available fund balances on hand in those four funds. Brooks said that due to fiscal responsibility, available reserves will allow them to not create a deficit reduction plan.
In creating the budget, Brooks said he anticipated expenses high and revenue low so there will be no surprises at the end of the fiscal year.
“Pending no unforeseen circumstances, the budget being presented is a worst case scenario budget,” Brooks said.
The state has released its calculation for evidence-based general state aid which has increased by $91,762 to $2,386,208, a 4 percent increase for FY23. The budget projected a $13,901 surplus in the Education Fund, $56,650 surplus in Operations and Maintenance, and a surplus of $32,650 in working cash.
A deficit of $29,799 was projected in the Transportation Fund. Brooks explained that the difference in this fund being balanced versus not balanced each year is a direct correlation between whether or not the district received all of its state transportation payments.
In other news from the meeting, Elementary Principal Gus Elliott reported that the new School Resource Officer, Chris Woods, who was hired at the August board meeting, is very visible in the building and cafeteria and is establishing relationships with the younger students by sitting at a different table for lunch whenever possible and he has observed that the students are opening up to him.
Junior/Senior High School Principal Tyler Nichols reported that sophomore Alivia Lempke went to Harvard for a week over summer break to learn coding.
The board approved Adriana Garcia as Key Club advisor for the 2022-2023 school year, and Shelli Sauer as senior class sponsor for the coming year.
The board approved a quote from Oldeen Roofing of Kewanee of $47,749 for removal and replacement of the roof over the boiler room between the cafeteria and the gym as part of the project to install new ventilation systems.
This article originally appeared on Star Courier: New Wethersfield super says FY23 budget is 'super'
