GIRARD SCHOOLS Official issues a freeze on spending

The forecast assumes no major tax revenue losses from plant closings.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
GIRARD -- Budgets are being frozen as the five-year financial forecast for the public schools here shows escalating deficits for the first four years and a slight deficit reduction in the final year.
The projection, presented to the board of education Wednesday by Mark Bello, school district treasurer, shows a $17,550 deficit for the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2003.
That deficit balloons to $432,550 next year; $642,550 the following year and $777,550 the year after that. In the final year, fiscal 2007, the deficit falls back to $642,750.
For the current fiscal year, budget expenditures used in calculating the forecast total $12,570,500. Funds considered in the forecast are the general fund, emergency levy, textbook and disadvantaged pupil education funds and debt service related to the general fund.
The forecast projects the $392,950 carry-over into this year will be wiped out by June 30, Bello told the board. He said employee health-benefit costs have increased drastically, and current low interest rates limit the board's investment income.
From the state
State funding, which accounts for about 60 percent of the board's revenue, is insufficient and uncertain, he added.
The forecast assumes no major tax revenue losses because of plant closings, no new major school construction, slight increases in state funding, annual pay increases of up to 2 percent for employees, and single-digit annual percentage increases in employee benefit costs, he said.
"We have to take a hard look at either cutting expenditures or increasing revenues. That's the board's choice," Bello said.
If projections in the forecast turn out to be accurate, he said he thinks staff reductions can be by not replacing those who leave, rather than by layoffs. But layoffs are still a possibility, he added.
"I think these deficits that we're projecting here are manageable. They're not something that is going to send the school district spiraling downward," Bello told the board.
Memo to principals
He added that he'll send a memo advising all principals that "our budgets will be frozen. We will not be entering into any new contracts or increased expenditures.''
Some costs can be covered by increasing use of grants, and money can be saved through additional consortium purchasing of utilities and supplies at significant discounts and through improvements in energy efficiency, he said. Going to the voters for a new levy would be a last resort, he said.