By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

Brandon Twp.– The proposed school district budget has an operating surplus of nearly a half-million dollars and a fund balanced deemed healthy by the state.

“I’m very pleased with the turnaround we have had in the district,” said Executive Director of Business Services Jan Meek. “Tough decisions have allowed us to increase the fund balance and become financially stable.”

Meek presented the proposed 2016-17 budget, with $25,821,294 in revenue and $25,343,470 in expenditures, to the school board at a special meeting June 13. The operating surplus of $477,824 will result in an increase to the fund balance, which as of June 30 will be $2,507,745, or 9.71 percent of revenue.

The district will receive an increase of $120 per student in foundation allowance from the state, but Meek is still projecting a continued enrollment decline of 150 students in the 2016-17 school year. The district has lost students every year since 2006 in large numbers. This is the third year in a row the district has balanced the budget, mostly achieved through reductions. This year will be no different, with a projected reduction of 6.6 instructional staff, as well as reductions in the maintenance and operations capital outlay budget, technology budget, and transportation budget, for total expenditure reductions of $1.17 million.

Even with the reductions, Meek notes investments have also been made in the classrooms, in technology, and in infrastructure.

Infrastructure costs this year included a new wastewater treatment plant for Brandon Fletcher Intermediate School. District officials have also put aside an assigned $1.2 million for more infrastructure improvements.

Meek has projected continued enrollment losses through 2020. Without any adjustments, the district would be in the red because of these losses by more than $1 million four years from now, but their plan is to continue to decrease staff with a formula of one full-time teacher for every 25 students lost, as well as make other reductions as necessary in order to stay above the 5 percent fund balance required in order to continue to remain a “financially healthy” district as deemed by the state. Districts that fall below a 5 percent fund balance are put on a critical list.

“I feel very confident that financially we are in good shape,” said Meek, who added that a potential issue is the wastewater treatment plant that serves the middle school and high school and must be replaced by 2019 at a projected cost of $1.5 million and for which the district will ask for a sinking fund millage from voters in August.

“The reality is we get money from the state to educate students and districts across the state are not having to spend money for instruction to build a wastewater treatment plant,” she said. “This is truly an exceptional situation here in Brandon. We’re fairly optimistic that the community will understand the water issues here in this community and be willing to help. It’s only 2 years and 2 mills that the community will support this effort, so all the hard work we have done to get to a financially stable point will allow us to continue to be financially stable.”