SYRACUSE – Wawasee Community School Corp. held a special budget meeting Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Wawasee High School. The purpose of this meeting was to start the formal budgeting discussion for 2016. The school board approved the advertisement of the 2016 budget. A public budget meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 25 in the Warrior Room at WHS. The budget will then be considered for adoption at the Sept. 8 meeting at 5:30, also at WHS. The estimated total budget is $50,983,821. The board affirmed that yearly estimations are always advertised higher than what is actually granted. According to Jim Evans, director of finance for WCSC, the five areas of the 2016 budget process are the general, debt service, capital projects, transportation operating and bus replacement funds. The general fund no longer is supported by property taxes. All revenue for this is from the state, based on the formula created by the General Assembly. The debt service fund is determined by the amount needed to pay bonds for building projects. The capital projects fund goes towards locally determined projects. It is geared towards maintenance of facilities, technology and repairs for smaller items in buildings. It is funded by property tax revenue, but is capped by the state. The transportation operating fund pays salaries for bus drivers and others in the department. The bus replacement fund was a point of discussion by board member George Gilbert and Superintendent Dr. Tom Edington. Gilbert questioned whether or not WCSC had cutback problems similar to other local school districts, and Evans stated they had not encountered that yet and that the issues with buses are typically circuit breakers and the cap placed on property tax revenues. Edington said that the state has not provided adequate funds to replace buses as needed. The fund is allowed to collect the levy needed to continue to replace buses on a regular basis. State code mandates that the fleet be replaced every twelve years. The board then moved on to other items. Edington said that he had been approached by the Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation for a $1,000 donation to study the effects of this summer’s precipitation on local runoff and the water table near Wawasee Middle School. The overall cost of the project is $4,000. Discussions between teachers and the corporation for salary negotiations can start in August. Edington stated that salary discussions will be different this year compared to recent years due to the past contract expiring and test scores now impacting how much a teacher earns. A detailed plan has not yet been confirmed. The new concession stand at the football stadium at WHS will be ready by the first home game in August. The building was supposed to be done by October 2014, then May 2015.
