Prepared Notes for Board Meeting
April 12, 2010
Marc A. Schare
The Treasurer’s Advisory
met a week or two ago and received a verbal report from the team conducting the
state audit as to what we can expect will be the significant findings of the
report. While the auditor’s office still has some work to do, it is fair to say
that the final product will have a number of areas that the district can look
at for reducing expenditures moving forward. In conjunction with the
Superintendent’s budget review committee, the results from the audit should
give the TAC and this board the data necessary to make the strategic reductions
that were promised during the levy campaign.
And speaking of reductions….
The board finance
committee met two weeks ago and began to look at a five year forecast that will
be discussed by the TAC at its next meeting. The five year forecast should have
few surprises but should make for some interesting discussion at the work
session scheduled for the next few weeks. The forecast clearly will demonstrate
the mathematical need for a large levy sometime in 2011 and an even larger levy
in 2013. A capital improvements component will also be needed sometime in that
period. The levy requirement is projected due to both revenue shortfalls
created by the state budget crisis and ever increasing expenditures caused by
projected health care cost increases and the compounding impact of base and
step salary increases. In my opinion, the financial situation in the district
is so serious that it cannot be solved with the passage of a single levy or a
cut list, even a painful one. What we need is a paradigm shift that will cause
us to examine everything, to look at new ways of doing things, fully embracing
technology and not being afraid to slay the sacred cow. Easier said than done
to be sure, but if we approve the forecast next month implicitly agreeing with the
treasurer’s assumptions, it would behoove us to understand the ramifications of
what the forecast says.