Board approves $24 million budget for 2009-2010

By DEB WUETHRICH

Members of the Tecumseh Public School (TPS) Board approved final budget revisions Monday night for the district’s 2008-2009 budget, with the general fund projected to be $25,378,314. Business and Finance Director Bill Wright said revenue had increased by approximately $258,945 through various local revenue sources and those revisions were incorporated, along with a few expenditure adjustments.

Like other school districts around the state, Tecumseh also had to work in last-minute figures from a recent Senate version of the state aid act for its 2009-2010 budget, also approved Monday night following a public budget hearing, with the general fund projected to be $24,275,528.

The budget includes a reduction of $110 per student, which equates to a projected loss of $341,232, and the loss of categorical funding for declining enrollment of $60,959, which reduces the TPS foundation allowance to $7,206 per student. Wright said the school district also is projecting a decrease of 120 students for the 2009-2010 fiscal year for a projected loss of $828,690, with the projected state aid revenue loss totaling $1,230,881. School districts had expected the state to use federal stimulus funds to shore up the state’s school aid fund, keeping per-pupil aid the same this year, but the state used the funds on the state’s 2008-2009 budget instead.

Wright pointed out that the budget development process began in January 2009 and that a Budget Advisory Committee met several times throughout the school year as part of this process. He said the projected fund equity of $933,974, or 3.77 percent of expenditures, was getting low for what state guidelines like to see.

“But a lot of districts are in that position right now,” said Wright. “There are basically two ways to make it up and one isn’t popular. You can grow your way out of it or cut your way out of it, or a combination. Cutting is difficult and we’ve been cutting a number of years now while trying to keep up with declining enrollment. It’s something we’re going to have to try to ride out.”

Board member Dan Gunder said that the district has been undergoing one of the most aggressive marketing campaigns he has seen. “I think we’ve got to get the message out that we do have the highest standardized test scores of schools in the county,” Gunder said. “People talk about class size, but the reality is if it’s not translating to test scores, it doesn’t matter.”

The board also approved a resolution to authorize installment purchase agreements (IPAs) for the purchase and installation of equipment including synthetic turf, track surface, fencing, electrical systems and lighting, and grandstands and a pressbox for the new athletic complex. The items will be financed with the proceeds from the IPA that will not exceed $1,200,000, and the district will solicit bids for funding from local financial institutions and develop financing contracts with vendors and financial institutions.

“As you know I voted against the athletic complex the whole time,” said board member Jason Sines prior to the vote. “At this point, this is the funding for that. The decision to do it already has been done and the board voted for it, and it’s time to move on with that.”

Bruce Lemons, of Foresite Designs, was on hand to address concerns that have been raised regarding drainage issues in the area of the new complex.

“You have to understand that during a construction project, things are done to prevent erosion from taking place in catch basins in lower areas and they will have silt sacs or covers so water doesn’t drain,” Lemons said. He said the basins currently had covers that would later come off. He also noted that part of this project includes having a special kind of aggregate under the artificial turf so it would have good density.

“It’s working the way it’s supposed to, and once the carpet is down, it will slow that drainage down through holes perforated in it,” Lemons assured the board members.
The board members also:

• Certified property tax levies for the non-primary residence exemption and the 2000 and 2005 debt property tax levy.
• Adopted the 2009-2010 Tecumseh Middle School Handbook
• Approved an overnight trip to Petoskey for football camp July 27-29.