The Rolla Board of Education approved a $41.8 million budget for fiscal year 2010 Thursday at its regularly scheduled meeting.

“This is putting it all together in a final document,” said Vicki Gorman, the district’s financial director, noting the board already approved parts of the budget, including salary steps and supplies.

The district projected expenses to be more than its projected revenues of $41 million. To make up the difference, the district will be using reserve funds, according to Gorman.

“It’s not something you want to do every year,” Gorman said after the meeting. She added the district’s reserve balance is around 30 percent, affording the district some room to maneuver.
Gorman said the district had also used reserve funds to help fill the gap between last year’s revenues and expenditures.

Next year’s budget, which goes into effect July 1, is projected to be $805,904 less than the last year’s $42.6 million budget.

The district was able to lower expenditures with several cost-saving measures, including reducing the cost of items such as substitute/supplemental pay by $135,810, building/site improvements by $625,500 and equipment by $768,800, she said.

The district estimates increased revenue from $39.6 million last year. Much of that difference is coming from increased funding from the federal government. Federal funds include one-time Stimulus money, about $1.4 million, and an additional $1.4 million from the federal government, while funding from local and state sources has declined, she said.

State funding has gone down from $16.2 million to $15.9 million, despite the increase in the foundation formula. The formula is going into its fourth year and will provide the district $13.75 million, a little more than $100,000 more than last year the board was told.

State revenues have decreased, according to Gorman, because of the reduction of equipment in the vocational schools. Funding for that comes from the state.

“This year we purchased $1 million of equipment for the vocational schools, and the state provided about $400,000 for that,” Gorman said. Without purchasing equipment, the district does not receive those funds.

Another area of state funding that has declined in revenue is the money from Proposition C, the statewide sales tax.

Local revenue has also gone down from $18.5 million to $18.2 million, which Gorman attributed to the declining personal property tax receipts. Although the district is estimating an increase in new construction, she opted to leave revenues from property tax the same to offset the decline of personal property.

“Why do you anticipate a decline in personal property?” Board member Jamie Myers asked Gorman.

Gorman responded that with the declining economy, people were less likely to make purchases and were more likely to keep the items they have longer.