Treasurer warns of 2010 deficit

Red flags go up for the district in 2010 in its five-year forecast.
By MARY SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MINERAL RIDGE-- Weathersfield schools are heading toward a deficit, Treasurer Angela Lewis says in her five-year financial forecast to the board of education.
Lewis told the board the district can expect to stay in the black until 2009, when it is expected to show a $182,092 unreserved fund balance at the end of the year. Still, it must meet a payroll of more than $350,000 from that unreserved balance.
The year 2010 sends up red flags with a projected deficit of $794,804, she explained.
Board member Fred McCandless said the budget looks good through 2008, until the district has to go back to voters for renewal of a 5.5-mill levy to generate $535,168 in 2009.
Board member Dr. Douglas Darnall said it would be good to look at ways to avoid the deficit now.
Lewis said creating a five-year forecast is a difficult task because she has information from the state for only the next two years on how it will pay the district.
"I don't have a crystal ball," she noted.
What's expected
Though a new county appraisal of properties was conducted this year showing a 15 percent increase in values, the county auditor is going to argue with the state for a lower percentage increase, around 10 percent. Lewis said schools don't get the full effect of reappraisals and estimated the district will generate an additional $43,313 in fiscal 2006.
It stands to lose considerably on the state's reformulation of personal tangible property tax revenues, which will be eliminated by House Bill 2066. Starting in tax year 2006, personal tangible property tax values will decrease until 2010, when the values of the tax for the district will be close to zero.
Lewis told the board the problem is that the district is heavily reliant on these dollars to fund operations.
"The fiscal status of the district beyond 2011 will suffer, as this very important revenue source will gradually cease to exist and a full replacement mechanism in the new Commercial Activity Tax is untried and unproven," she advised.