LIBERTY SCHOOLS Forecast: Board faces rise in deficits

It's uncertain if new operating levies will be necessary.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
LIBERTY -- The board of education adopted a financial forecast Wednesday that it will end this school year $195,232 in the black but face mushrooming deficits in each of the next four years.
The projected deficits begin with $369,813 in the fiscal year that will end June 30, 2004, then escalate to $1,362,090, $2,775,439 and $4,786,224 by June 30, 2007.
The district's budget for the current fiscal year is almost $13 million.
The projected deficits are primarily because of expected reductions in state funding, said Tracey Obermiyer, district treasurer.
She added that the state budget for the next two years still awaits passage by the Legislature and that state funding for the school district remains uncertain.
Whether new operating levies will be needed hasn't been determined, she said.
"There's not much growth in the real estate area. Our new growth as related to construction has only been a half to 1 percent over the past five years," she said, referring to revenue projections. Her forecast reflects the gradual phasing out of the tax on inventory in businesses, she said.
Staff and pay
On the expenditure side, the forecast reflects negotiated staff pay increases of 4 percent this year and 3 percent next year.
The forecast assumes not replacing a bus driver who resigned in January and an educational aide who resigned in February, and the loss of a high school foreign-language teaching position and an elementary art teaching position.
"We also will not be replacing any textbooks," Obermiyer told the board.
"The cafeteria has had a remarkable turnaround this year. I don't foresee that we'll have to transfer any money to the cafeteria this year. We're continuing to research at this point other areas to reduce the expenditures in fiscal year '04 to end with a positive cash balance," she said.
The board raised academic supply fees for Art III and IV and Photography I and II classes from $30 to $35 for next school year.
Superintendent Lawrence Prince said the increase reflects increased material costs. Other academic supply fees remain unchanged.