North Wasco County SD 21 budget committee approves $654.7 million budget, moves to levy property tax for general fund

The North Wasco County SD 21 budget committee voted to approve the district’s proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, in the aggregate amount of $654,700,381 and moved to levy ad valorem property taxes in support of the general fund. A budget committee member made the motion and the committee voted in favor.

The vote followed a staff presentation explaining major line-item shifts and program changes that affected per-student costs and function codes in the draft budget. The committee discussed a multi-million-dollar seismic project tied to Chenoweth that inflated that school's per-student figures, the discontinuation of a contract for Kelly Avenue School, the reassignment of several administrative duties to private contractors (Sodexo), and a net reduction of six full-time equivalent positions in the proposed budget.

Staff member: The committee’s finance presenter said the unusually high total dollars attached to Chenoweth were “because of the seismic activity there” and that “there’s a couple of million dollars” tied to that work. The presenter also said that the seismic work had a grant attached, so “it wasn’t even really budgeted only by the district.”

Nut graf: The budget vote sets the district’s legal spending authority for the next fiscal year and authorizes the property tax levy the committee proposed to…