Sandy Petrovich, superintendent, GACS

GWINN — The Gwinn Area Community Schools Board of Education continues to work its way out of a financial hole.

Its recently passed General Fund budget, which took effect July 1, shows proposed revenue of $11,562,561 and expenditures of $11,293,536.

GACS Superintendent Sandy Petrovich said that means the district is expected to end the year with a surplus of $269,025. However, combined with a deficit of $367,912 — which had been about $405,000 in January — the district’s fund balance is projected to be $98,887 by the end of fiscal year 2018-19 in June.

“We’re making steady progress at climbing out of our deficit, and once we get out of our deficit, then we have to start working on building our fund balance back,” Petrovich said. “So, we’re headed in the right direction, and I think we’re being efficient with it and working hard to accomplish that within a short amount of time.”

Petrovich also appreciated all district staff that helped “make it happen.”

Local revenue includes the local tax levy of 18 mills on all non-principal residences and 6 mills on commercial personal property, except for properties in the GACS Renaissance Zone.

The board also passed a 2017-18 amended budget as of June 30, with revenue of $11,300,447 and expenditures of $11,261,706.

The latest budget shows a big improvement over the actual 2016-17 budget, which showed revenue of $10,713,526 and expenditures of $11,388,599 — a deficit approaching $700,000.

The district built the 2018-19 General Fund based on a number of assumptions and facts, which include an increase of $240 per pupil in state aid and an enrollment of 1,068.22, resulting in an increase of $268,598 in state aid.

Expenditures were based on a number of factors:

≤ A basic instruction net increase of $252,351 due in part to increased salaries per contract as well as increased retirement, Social Security and Medicare costs.

≤ An added needs instruction net increase of $43,543 because of increased salaries per contract, and increased retirement, Social Security and Medicare costs. Added needs involves special education, compensatory education, and career and technical education.

≤ A general administration net cost decrease of $103,740 due in part to lowered audit costs and contracted services for a human resources search firm, and a decreased superintendent’s contract.

≤ An operation and maintenance net decrease of $62,748 due to a one-time costs of custodial equipment and supervisor staffing changes to include salary and benefits.

≤ A business net decrease of $30,010 because of a one-time cost in 2017-18 for an emergency finance team.

The budget will continue to be brought to the school board for periodic revising as needed.