By Alex Johnson
Correspondent
The Burlington Area School District Board of Education will consider approval of a budget for the 2017-18 school year at Monday night’s meeting.
The meeting is slated to begin at 7 p.m. at Lincoln School, 100 N. Kane St.
Last week the board’s Finance Committee recommended approval of next year’s budget.
The tax levy to support the budget, which is based on last year’s property valuation, is predicted to increase 2.27 percent. But that will likely change based on actual valuation, which won’t be available until next fall.
Officials have predicted that valuation will go up, based on the relative state of the economy, which would decrease the tax levy from the current estimated level.
The recommended budget outlines a 1.26 percent increase in salaries for teachers, administrators, and custodial staff, and a 3 percent increase for aides and secretaries.
There will be a public hearing for the budget on the fourth Monday in August, where a budget hearing will be held, along with a vote on the tax levy.
The budget also includes a 12 percent increase in the cost of health insurance for staff.
Other discussion
During the June 5 meeting Finance Committee members also discussed changes to the current budget. One noted change pointed out by School Board members Monday is $69,000 allocated to replace two John Deere mowers in the 2016-2017 original budget, although only $39,000 had actually been spent. This resulted from the purchase of two smaller mowers instead of one larger model and smaller model.
The leftover money will be reallocated by the full board at a later date.
The board also discussed Funds 21 and 60, two student activity funds that work in conjunction with student organizations in the district.
School Board President Jim Bousman explained the purpose of examining the two funds at the meeting.
“We look at these to really look at what it costs to run the district,” he said. “We do this so these programs can run efficiently and effectively.”
The main focus of the discussion centered on Fund 60, described as a fund where assets are held by the district for student organizations.
Every dollar in Fund 60 is raised by the students within the student organizations themselves with the school district acting as a type of bank, granting the student organizations their share of Fund 60.
As of Apr. 30, the budget for Fund 60 reflects a sum of monies that is unallocated, a sum that the full board will disperse throughout the student organizations at a later date.
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