Colfax school district ends school year with $1.89 million general fund balance
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The School District of Colfax has ended the 2018-2019 school year with a general fund balance of $1,887,105 as of June 30, 2019.
William C. Yingst Jr., school district administrator, presented the audit review at a special meeting of the Colfax Board of Education at 6 p.m. July 15.
The school district had a net income of $29,909 for the school year, Yingst reported.
Fund 21, the donations fund, ended with balance of $41,051 as of June 30.
The donations fund also is known as the “student assistance account” and is used to help students in a variety of ways, from scholarships to poverty assistance, since the school district has a poverty rate of 40 percent, Yingst said.
Fund 21, the special education fund, had a balance of zero.
By law, the special education fund must be zeroed out every year, Yingst said.
The special education fund had revenue of $470,565 and expenditures of $1,153,776, with $683,201 transferred in to cover the special education expenses, according to the audit report.
Debt service
Fund 38 is used for the land payment, energy efficiency, and the unfunded pension liability, Yingst said.
The tennis court renovation will move to Fund 38 when the project is completed in a couple of weeks, he said.
Fund 38 had revenue of $251,292 and expenditures of $251,293, with a balance of $36,256 on June 30.
Fund 39 is used for the referendum loan payments and had income of $455,839 and expenditures of $341,363.
A net income of $114,476, combined with the fund balance on June 30, 2018, of $121,936 left Fund 39 with a balance of $236,412 as of June 30.
Capital projects
Fund 46 is the capital projects fund that is now in its fourth year, Yingst said.
Under the rules for Fund 46, school districts must establish the fund and then make deposits for five years before the money can be used for the specified purposes.
Fund 46 had a balance of $110,054 that included interest income for the year of $1,146.
The capital projects fund will mature in June of 2020, and then the money in the fund can be used, Yingst said.
During the regular school board meeting at 7 p.m., the Colfax Board of Education approved adding $27,500 to Fund 46.
When the fund was started, “I never believed we would have that much in it in five years,” said Todd Kragness, president of the Board of Education.
“It’s a good thing we started it,” he said.
Referendum dollars
Fund 49 contains the referendum dollars, Yingst said.
The fund had a balance of $191,501 as of June 30 and contains the tennis court loan, he noted.
The remaining $90,000 in Fund 49 must be spent by December 1, and Yingst said he intends to use the money to resurface and stripe the parking lot.
Food service
Fund 50 is the food service account, and as of June 30, had a balance of $240,570.
The food service account is “healthy” and has been since the school district switched to the federal breakfast program. Reimbursements have been maximized, and the fund “is doing very well,” Yingst said.
In fact, the food service account is doing so well that $140,000 must be spent out of the fund, he said.
To keep the food service fund under the mandated maximum balance, the school district is working on remodeling the kitchen, Yingst said.
So far, a number of items have been replaced, including the pressure cooker, oven, food carts, the salad bar, and work tables in the kitchen, he said.
The coolers also have been replaced, as have the dishwashers and garbage disposals, Yingst said, adding that he is looking into remodeling the service line, too, and will need to get information from contractors.
Some of the money must be spent, but it can only be used in food service, he noted.
The school district has not implemented any increases in the hot lunch prices because of the healthy food service fund balance, Yingst said.
Ken Bjork, school board member, asked if the money in the food service account could be used to cover the unpaid lunch accounts.
Yingst said he believed that the money also could be used for the unpaid lunch accounts.
Kragness asked if the money could be used for equipment in the concession stands.
Yingst he believed the money also could probably be used for the concession stands.
The food service account had a fund balance of $206,431 as of June 30, 2018.
Budget review
Following the audit review, at 6:30 p.m., the Colfax Board of Education reviewed the 2019-2020 budget in preparation for the school district’s annual meeting on July 22.
Anticipated state aid for 2019-2020 is $5,518,846.
At this point, the 2019-2020 budget is the “projected” budget, Yingst said.
Governor Tony Evers has signed the biennial state budget, but at the moment, it is not clear exactly how much money the school districts will receive, he said.
Two variables will directly impact the state aid: the third Friday in September student count and the school district’s property valuation, Yingst said.
Generally speaking, if the school district receives more state aid, then the school board will levy a smaller property tax amount, and if the school district receives less state aid, the school board will levy for a larger property tax amount, he said.
The school district will know the official amount of state aid for 2019-2020 on October 15, Yingst said.
The general fund budget revenue for the 2019-2020 is listed as $9,453,353.18, and the expenses are listed as $9,345,264.20.
Expenditures from Fund 10 include salaries of $4,627,682.79, benefits of $1,711,987.06, purchased services of $1,442,665, non-capital expenditures of $373,070, capital equipment expenditures of $260,500 and insurance and judgments of $157,470.52.
The expenditures from Fund 10 also include $717,888.83 in inter-fund transfers and $54,000 for “other objects.”