NOSD board earmarks funds for tech upgrades

The Northern Ozaukee School Board voted unanimously earlier this month to allocate $492,000 to its committed fund balance for specific projects and future operational costs.

The resolution approved by the board earmarks $77,000 for future technology upgrades, $15,947 for buildings and grounds improvements and $15,000 for varsity locker room upgrades. This money cannot be used for other purposes without board approval.

The board also added $399,100 in anticipated surpluses to the district’s committed fund balance, which is reserved for subsequent budgets.

Director of Business Services Josh McDaniel said the surplus is due to the four year, $4.4 million operations referendum approved by voters in November.

“Our board wanted to ask for a round amount to average out throughout four years,” McDaniel said. “Because of that, we knew that we were going to have a surplus this year, but it’s going to be used in subsequent budgets.”

The amount of money the district was able to assign to its committed fund balance was about $90,000 more than anticipated, which McDaniel attributed to lower-than-expected staff costs this school year.

The district decided to hire just one staff member instead of three after the referendum, McDaniel said. It is more difficult to hire staff mid-year, so the district postponed its search until this summer in order to find the best candidates to address large class sizes at Ozaukee Elementary and Middle schools. 

The committed fund is part of the larger general fund balance, which serves as a savings account for the district. The general fund, which is divided into nonspendable, restricted, committed, assigned and unassigned categories, totaled $3.27 million before last week’s changes. Those changes bring the committed fund balance up to $1.66 million.

The unassigned fund balance, however, sits at just more than $2 million — “below the targeted fund balance amount,” according to the district. 

McDaniel said the district’s self-imposed policy indicates that this portion of the fund balance should constitute 20% of the total balance, which would be about $3 million. The current unassigned fund balance constitutes 12.7% of the total.

“We were only at like 5% years ago, so we’ve made improvements over the years,” McDaniel said. “The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction doesn’t say a specific number, but they say that the recommendation is to have a fund balance large enough to avoid short-term borrowing, and that’s usually about 15%, 20% depending on the district, how they get aid and what time it comes in.”

The district also approved the purchase of new maintenance equipment totaling $69,780 — $60,000 of which will be covered by savings from the current year’s budget. The purchase of a used rather than new maintenance vehicle and lower-than-anticipated snow removal costs were major factors driving the savings.

Supt. Dave Karrels said this resolution allows maintenance department savings to be reinvested into the department itself.