Moses Lake School Board reviews proposed budget

MOSES LAKE - The school board will consider a $110.8 million budget for the 2012-13 school year at its Aug. 23 meeting; board members held a budget hearing at the regular meeting Thursday.

The 2012-13 budget includes $31.8 million in the capital projects (construction) fund, which will pay for construction of the regional transportation center.

The general fund was projected at $74.3 million. The general fund pays for most school operations, including employee salaries, equipment, maintenance, transportation and the district's portion of extracurricular activities.

The budget is based on a projection of 7,435 students for the school year, a decrease of three students from the 2011-12 school year. Mark Johnson, executive director for business and operations, said the district experienced an unexpected loss of students in April and May, and decided to be very conservative when making the enrollment projection.

The transportation vehicle fund was budgeted at $550,000. The fund is designed to pay for new buses. The debt service fund, which pays back revenue bonds issued by the district, was projected at $3.8 million.

Expenses in the Associated Student Body fund, which is the money students raise for their activities, were budgeted at $1.6 million. Johnson said that amount allows for student fundraisers without rewriting the budget later in the school year.

Johnson said total revenues are up about $2.048 million from the 2011-12 school year. That include about $2.6 million in additional revenue from the district's maintenance and operations levy and an additional $322,778 in levy equalization. Johnson said REC Silicon appealed its property assessment and won a reduction, which bumped up levy equalization.

Federal program funds were cut by about $1.363 million, Johnson said. There were cuts in some federal programs, and money the district received through the 2009 stimulus was used up.

Salary and benefits will increase about $555,066 due to new positions added through the last maintenance and operations levy and contracts with staff.

In other business, Johnson announced construction on the new transportation center is scheduled to begin the week of Aug. 20. A groundbreaking ceremony will be scheduled sometime during that week, he said.

Johnson updated the board on plans to replace the cover to the swimming pool at Moses Lake High School, along with repairs to the pool's heating and ventilation system. Johnson said they're still determining costs, since district officials want to do it right.

Board chair Kevin Donovan said some expansion, like a locker room, was part of the bond proposal rejected by voters last year. He asked that district officials take future expansion into account when making any upgrades. Johnson said that was part of the plan.