TONTOGANY — Otsego Local Schools will have a balanced budget this year, but only by a razor-thin margin.
Treasurer Steven Carroll told the school board at its May meeting that the district will finish this fiscal year by adding a little more than $5,000 to its reserves.
“In our whole budget, $5,000 is nothing,” Carroll said. “But it’s still balanced, and we’ll still add more cash this year.”
There are several items that will impact the district’s next fiscal budget.
There is expected to be a 20% increase each of the next two years for health insurance due to an increase in claims in the consortium the district is enrolled in. The track project will be paid off this summer, and some of the school driveways need repaired while parking lots need resealed.
“These are general maintenance items that is the cost of maintaining our property,” Carroll said. “We do a very good job of taking care of what we have.”
A down payment of $700,000 for the new track was made in October.
While income tax collections were up 10% this year, total revenues were down 0.72% compared to last year, he said.
The NEXUS pipeline has increased their payments, causing a 22% increase in tangible personal property tax.
“There has been no official settlement, but this is a sign that they will settle in our favor,” he wrote in his report, adding that by paying now, they will lessen the interest payments on the balance due.
Personal services, which were reduced due to pay freezes, had a 13.1% increase. Overall, there has been a 4% increase since fiscal year 2020, Carroll said.
Total expenses were up 7.2% this year, but only an average of 2% since fiscal year 2020.
“We really work hard and pride ourselves on keeping our expenses in check,” Carroll said.
While $1.2 million was added to the cash reserves last year through grants, pay freezes and other cost-saving measures, Carroll has forecasted the district will deficit spend around $287,000 by this fall.
It will be very difficult to balance the budget next year, he said, and predicted the district will deficit spend by almost $800,000.
Also at the meeting, the board heard Jill Kao present award winners from her FCCLA class.
In her 22 years at Otsego, “I have never been so excited about the future of our community,” she said.
Family, Career and Community Leaders of America gives students the opportunity to grow, give back to their community, network and gain career skills, she said.
Kao, who teaches Family and Consumer Science at the junior high, said her students are automatically enrolled in FCCLA when they enter her seventh-grade class.
Students in her seventh and eighth grade classes have to either compete or do service-learning hours with FCCLA.
She had 50 students recognized at state for having more than 20 service-learning hours.
Of the 10,950 hours recorded in the state, 7,1011 were from Otsego, Kao said.
Ivan Ortega was first in the state for logging 1,479 hours, she said.
Sarrina Rodruquez placed second in the state with 671 hours and Brennyn Treen placed third with 546 hours.
“I’m just inspired by you guys,” Kao said to the students who attended the meeting. “You inspire me to be a better teacher.”
Sophie Kepling, who will be a senior this fall, started in FCCLA in seventh grade. She is Otsego’s third state officer in FCCLA and as secretary, will travel to national convention in San Diego at the end of June.
The board also hired Kylee Euler as school nurse and awarded continuing contracts to Tonya Boyer, Ryan Braucksieck, Brian Ebka, John Serrato (aide), Randy Tolles (bus driver) and Nadine Wilhelm.
