School Board approves 2015-16 operating budget
Published 10:30 am Tuesday, September 1, 2015
The Mercer Island School Board approved the school district’s 2015-16 operating budget without any amendments at its regular meeting Aug. 27 at City Hall.
MISD CFO/COO Dean Mack said the district received no additional input from the public regarding the budget, nor were there any attendees outside of district employees for the budget’s public hearing.
Budget documents submitted to the board showed a beginning balance of $6.325 million for the general fund. Over $54 million will become available in revenue this year, and will be spent primarily on classroom and student services expenditures, leaving an expected ending balance of $6.177 million.
The capital projects fund showed a beginning balance of over $78 million, with over $8 million in revenues pushing the balance over $87 million. More than $84 million in expenditures are planned, including costs for the Northwood Elementary construction and the Islander Middle School expansion, for an ending balance of $2,228,086 in August of 2016.
A guide to the 2015-16 budget and other budget documents are available through the school district website at www.boarddocs.com/wa/misd/Board.nsf/Public.
Six-year levy planning review
In a review of the 2016 capital/technology and transportation levies, Jennifer Wright, MISD executive director of learning and technology services, and Dean Mack presented financial planning figures for the Six-Year Capital Projects and Technology Levy.
Six-year levy planning showed a total cost sum of $18,841,614 for the technology portion and $18,474,386 for facility improvements throughout the district, for a grand total of $37,316,000.
That would equate to $6,219,333 of levy costs per year at a rate of $0.59 per thousand dollars of assessed value.
The district’s One-Year Transportation Levy, a levy the district runs once every six years which allows replacement of school buses, showed a cost of $750,000, which translates to $0.07 per thousand dollars of assessed value.
A first reading of the 2016 Capital Projects and School Transportation Levies will be presented to the board at its meeting Sept. 10, with final adoption planned for Sept. 24.
