Treasurer lauded for handling of pandemic finances
Bellefontaine City Schools Treasurer Joshua Wasson said at the Monday evening board of education meeting that the district is faring well financially, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and presented the five-year forecast, which predicts a $200,000 surplus of revenues over expenses for the current fiscal year 2021.
Additionally, the forecast shows all five years of year-ending balances in the black if the district is able to secure the renewal of its five-year, $1.185 million emergency operating levy prior to its expiration in December 2022.
For this year, the year-end balance is predicted as $7,086,064 and next year’s ending balance as $6,634,289.
“I’m pretty pleased with the forecast,” Wasson said. “We start to see deficit spending further along in the forecast, which is not uncommon because there are so many unknowns at that point.”
Relating to the district’s $1.185 million emergency operating levy, the treasurer said the board could begin to look at options for placing a renewal on the ballot, including potentially in the May election. The levy was first passed in 2007, has been renewed twice by voters since that time and is currently valued at 4.4 mills. It is called an “emergency” levy because it generates a fixed amount of revenue.
The district also has a 10-year emergency operating levy that generates $1,750,000 per year and does not expire until 2029, Wasson said.
Also during the meeting, the board met in executive session to discuss the treasurer’s annual review. Prior to the session, members said in a prepared statement that Wasson was receiving a positive review for his first year in the position. The board expressed appreciation of his handling of the COVID-19 crisis and how he took charge of a software conversion for the entire district.
“To say the least, Josh has had a lot to deal with in his first year with the district and the board is very pleased with his performance,” member said. “The board looks forward to working with Josh in the years to come.”
The treasurer’s current contract continues through July 31, 2022, and members said based upon the unprecedented times faced by the county and state, they did not anticipate issuing him a raise.
During the committee of the whole, teacher Gregg Johnson presented an update on the status of the eighth-grade Washington, D.C., trip.
He said while this year’s eighth-graders will not go on their trip during the traditional time in May 2021, the school is looking at taking current eighth-graders and also current freshmen students on the trip in November 2021.
For this year’s freshmen, their trip previously scheduled for May 2020 was postponed because of the pandemic. However, out of the 129 students who were previously registered, there are still 118 freshmen who are still interested in going, instead of getting a refund of their expenses paid for the trip, Gregg related.
“We feel strongly that this is an important trip for our kids, and you can see that there is still such a strong interest from the freshmen in wanting to attend their trip.”
Gregg said he has been in frequent communication with the tour company, and will know more at the beginning of 2021 regarding the feasibility of the November 2021 trip. He also related that students will soon begin fundraising for their trip.
The next meeting is 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 14, at the Bellefontaine High School Distance Learning Center.