The Flin Flon school board proposes to boost spending by half a million dollars this fall, investing in new infrastructure and doubling its surplus ahead of a provincial election one trustee fears could diminish revenues.
Trustees on Wednesday unveiled their proposed 2016-17 budget, a financial forecast that would draw more dollars from property taxes and, by virtue of a complex formula, fewer dollars from Hudbay.
Trustee Angela Simpson said the budget takes into account the possibility of a new provincial government following April’s election.
“If there’s a change of government, we’re really scared,” she told 13 other people, all but one of them affiliated with the school division or media, at a budget forum at the division office. “So in my heart I believe we’re projecting so that we’re not caught in a bad, bad situation next year.”
Simpson said that on one prior occasion, “a big change in government” did not bode well for division finances: “What we asked for, we didn’t get. It didn’t matter that we had the budget and the budget was [completed].” She did not identify political parties in any of her comments. It is well known that the Progressive Conservatives are heavily favoured to win the April election over the incumbent New Democrats.
The board’s 2016-17 budget, expected to receive final approval next week, contains $14.62 million in spending, up $521,234, or 3.7 per cent, from the current school year.
Of that amount, $503,356 is allocated for “additional expenditure requests,” mostly capital items such as an air exchanger, wall and other upgrades at the Technical Vocational Institute (TVI) beside Hapnot Collegiate.
The TVI upgrades come in at $160,000. Across the division, trustees are also planning technology upgrades ($94,073), window replacements ($35,000) and several new exterior doors for Hapnot Collegiate and École McIsaac School ($27,000).
Other new expenditures include $80,000 for as-yet undetermined mental health initiatives to help students.
“We’re just seeing more and more issues with children with mental health issues,” said Superintendent Blaine Veitch. “We’re not exactly sure how that’s going to play out, but we want to put some money in there to be able to provide support for kids in that area, and we want to be working in collaboration with our community partners.”
A much smaller amount, $7,500, is set aside to better detect learning disabilities among students.
Dean Grove, assistant superintendent, said some signs of learning disabilities “tend to be fairly subtle” but “can have a marked impact on kids in terms of how they progress.”
“As we’ve gotten better assessment tools available to us, that’s something that we want to proceed with,” he said.
The proposed budget calls for an additional $214,444 in revenue from Flin Flon property taxes, a 5.5 per cent increase over the current year. Due to an increase in the assessed value of many properties, however, the education mill rate would actually decline.
The division would receive a slightly smaller allocation (one percentage point) from Hudbay, which, instead of taxes, pays an annual grant to the division and the City of Flin Flon. The division’s amount would be about $1.4 million.
The formula through which the division receives funding from Hudbay has long been complex. In 2013, the city and division agreed to alter how each receives Hudbay dollars so that the city would get more and the division would get less.
The proposed budget projects a surplus of $253,581. When added to the $249,226 accumulated surplus the division is expected to have at the end of June 2016, the overall accumulated surplus stands at a projected $502,807 by June 2017.
Asked about the 2016-17 surplus and whether it could have been used to lower taxes instead, Heather Fleming, secretary-treasurer, said there are problems with a zero per cent surplus.
“If you budget that way, you’re not leaving yourself much room for the unknowns,” she said.
The division’s projected surplus for June 2017 would leave a surplus equivalent to 3.44 per cent of overall expenditures. That’s well within the four per cent cap imposed by the province.
Trustee Tim Davis, chairman of the board’s finance committee, spoke highly of the budget, saying, “I think we’re spending the money wisely.”
Davis added that trustees did not approve all spending requests: “We did turn some things down, we cut a lot out of it. The major ones we were able to put in.”
Mayor Cal Huntley, the only forum attendee not affiliated with the division or media, was complimentary of the trustees.
“This is your business and I trust you guys to manage it as responsibly as you can,” he said, adding that the budget “looks like a good one” and “it doesn’t hurt to have a little money in the bank” as “a safety net.”
Trustees are expected to vote on and approve the proposed budget at their meeting this Tuesday,
Feb. 23.
