Wamego’s USD 320 Board of Education held a special budget meeting. At Monday’s meeting, Superintendent Tim Winter explained various points of the Code 99 Budget Presentation for the budget year July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017. He explained the sources of revenue for this year’s budget. The State contributes 58% ($12,842,884), Federal is 7% ($15,585,763) and Local Tax Levy is 35% ($7,582,233).
According to Winter, the Pott County assessed value increased 5 point 4 percent for an overall increase of $85,468. One mill equals one tax dollar on each $1000 of assessed valuations, which means 1 mill will generate the increase amount. While the assessed valuation increased, the tax levy decreased from 55.445 to 54.971 or .474 mills.
Winter went over points of interest of Code 99, explaining that Line 12 Adult Education – was funded by the Technology Center Tax Credit Grant dollars, which are close to being depleted. He said the State now requires a budget line for Bilingual Education (Line 14). Beginning in the Fall of 2016, the Wamego Technology Center has a Virtual Program (Line 15) for adult students age 19 and older. The District receives $5,000 for full-time students, $1,700 for part-time students, and receives an additional $933 for each credit completed. The Board approved the publication of the budget by a vote of 5 to 0. Both Michele Johnson and Nicolette Zeigler were not present.
The board also approved the proposed bond language. Superintendent Winter said Bond Counsel Piper-Jaffray filled out all the required forms for the ballot language of the bond resolution. The Bond Issue is not to exceed $20,000,000 and will be used for various projects laid out in the language of the ballot proposal. This bond issue will not increase the mill levy of the District. The board voted 5 to 0 to approved the bond resolution. The Budget and Bond Resolution will be published in Thursday’s newspaper.
In other business, Winter opened the discussion on cell phone plans. He said the District has 20 cell phones that are distributed throughout the district, and said he will be looking at what other districts are doing, and proposed offering a stipend for each phone rather than the District owning the phones. He said the District spent $14,000 last year in cell phone charges. He feels the stipend would be a breakeven point and the District would have no liability. He will study the issue further and bring back his findings to the Board for a decision.
The Board elected Ryan Hargitt as Board Vice President and appointed Board member Amy Schwein as a voting delegate to the KASB (Kansas Association of School Boards) convention. These items were inadvertently reported at the July 11th board meeting, so now it’s official.
In other business, the Board approved the hiring of Robert Miller to the general maintenance position. They also approved the renewal of the 2016-17 health insurance contract with Aetna (formerly known as Coventry) with a 4 point 3 percent (4.3%) premium increase. Superintendent Tim Winter said this was the smallest increase in years, with 2013’s – 7.2%, 2014 – 22.6% and 2015 – 18.7%. Winter stated the District currently pays $350 per month per employee, which is a contract negotiated item, and with the premium increase, could raise the Districts portion to $363, but again said this will be a negotiated issue.
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