Duneland Assistant Superintendent Dave Pruis was less than
enthusiastic Thursday in starting talks with the school board about the 2013
budgets for the Capital Projects Fund and Bus Replacement Funds.
Starting the summer tradition of drawing up the annual school
budget, Pruis gave a preliminary overview of what to expect for the two funds
which are primarily paid for by local property taxes, and it’s a lot of déjà vu,
with continued funding cuts from the state.
The CPF fund, which pays for professional services, building and
land acquisition, construction improvements, maintenance of equipment, emergency
allocations and other items, totals $10,378,124 in the 2013 budget,
approximately the same as that sought for 2012.
Pruis expects Duneland have just $8.2 million in the CPF in line
with what the state appropriated the fund last year.
Larger items in the CPF: $2 million for rental of buildings,
facilities and equipment; $1.6 million for building acquisition, construction
and improvements; $1.5 million for equipment maintenance; $1.4 million for
technology purchases; and just over $1 million for utilities and property and
casualty insurance.
Pruis reminded the board that these are just projections and the
line items will likely be tweaked by the state, then brought back to the school
board for final review later in the fall. Budget adoption is tentatively set for
Monday, Oct. 1.
“As always, we’ll construct a budget we can fund and we will be in
the black,” Pruis said.
Meanwhile, the Bus Replacement Fund calls for replacing five
regular 66-passenger school busses this year and a 27 passenger mini bus. Pruis
said he also made an appropriation for a 48-passenger special education bus, at
a total cost of $631,000, but said he is doubtful the state will fully fund the
request, as was the case last year.
State legislation requires the Indiana Department of Local
Government Finance to set a maximum levy for the Bus Replacement Funds.
Duneland Superintendent Dirk Baer repeated the comment that the
schools must now approve 12-year bus replacement funds, instead of the previous
10-year plans. He said harsh winter weather has caused the buses to rust to the
point where they are inadequate and maintenance costs have continued to spike.
Board President Janice Custer griped at the fact the state
reported having a $2 billion surplus this year when some of that money could
have been used to help schools which need it.
“If you don’t spend it on roads and schools, you’re going to have
a lot of extra money,” she said.
Adding to the grievances, Baer said the tax caps have stunted
revenues to the CPF and Bus Replacement Funds and the corporation will have to
make do with lower revenues.
Preliminary reviews for all 2013 budgets, including the General
Fund, will be made at the board’s next meeting on Aug. 13, followed the Budget
Review/Authorization to Advertise either Monday or Tuesday, Aug. 27-28 and a
public hearing on Monday, Sept. 10.
The 2013 General Fund will not yet be affected by the recent
referendum approving an increase of .22 cents per $100 of assessed value on
property. Those additional taxes will not be collected until next year.
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