ANOTHER REFERENDUM FOR LOYAL?
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 -- 11:42 AM
Loyal School District residents can expect another revenue cap exemption referendum this fall.The school board will meet with their financial adviser this week.
The budget hasn?t gotten any better since voters turned down a 3-year, $500,000 per year referendum last Spring.
The school?s projected deficits are a concern, according to Superintendent Graeme Williams.
"It's very similar to what we had before with our last referendum," Williams says. "We're looking at a $300,000 for the next school year; around $550,000 (the year after). All together, we're looking at around $1.6-million in three years."
If the district can?t find more revenue, it won?t take long for its relatively small fund balances to be exhausted.
"Our fund balance is somewhere in the $600,000 to $700,000 range. The first year, we could probably survive that. The school year of 2011-2012 would be the most difficult time," he explains.
The board would have to tackle the unsavory job of making significant cuts to programs and personnel.
The discussions are preliminary. No dollar figures have been discussed, but Williams believes the board will eventually approve a referendum to go to voters in September.
Last April, voters turned back a referendum that would have allowed the board to raise an additional $500,000 per year for three years. 54% of voters said ?no? to the question.
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