Marple Newtown committee previews July payments, budget transfers and a new credit-card policy

Miss Harvey, speaking at the Marple Newtown School Board’s June 10 budget and finance committee meeting, said the district had “the usual bills for payment, for the general fund and food service bills.”

The committee reviewed routine year-end financial housekeeping and several administrative authorizations the district will act on at upcoming meetings, including a request to authorize the business administrator to release checks in July, a budget transfer to cover substitute-teacher service shortfalls and a reading of a proposed credit-card policy for limited district use.

The committee’s discussion matters because the district closes its fiscal year over the summer and needs interim authority to pay vendors and process payroll before the board reconvenes. Miss Harvey said the district will continue paying current-year bills through the summer and “bring those bills to the board in August for ratification and approval.”

Most immediate was an annual agenda item to “authorize the business administrator to release checks for the month of July,” Miss Harvey said, noting the district typically has no board meeting in July. The committee did not record a formal vote in the committee transcript; the authorization is presented as a routine, annual motion that the board customarily approves at its next voting meeting.

The committee also discussed a budget transfer to cover end-of-year substitute-teacher service expenses. Miss Harvey said the transfer should “finish the year,” and referenced an approximate figure when she asked, “Correct? The 90,000? Yeah.” The transcript records the figure as approximate; the final amount will appear in the formal transfer motion and audit documentation.

Members reviewed the annual “commit fund balance” authorization that lets administration assign portions of the fund balance during the audit — for capital reserves, one-time purchases or anticipated settlements — and expected detailed dollar amounts after the audit is complete in August and September.

On banking, Miss Harvey summarized the annual designation of depositories required by the school code, listing the Pennsylvania State Liquid Asset Fund, the Local Government Trusts and TD Bank as the district’s primary institutions. “This is an annual approval that is required by the school code,” she said.

The committee heard the first reading of proposed school board policy 625, a narrow credit-card policy that would allow a district-controlled card kept in the business office for limited uses such as event registrations that only accept cards. Miss Harvey said the district “does not have currently any type of Mastercard, Visa card” and that the card would be “kept in the business office under Dom’s control and Tina’s,” not issued to employees.

District staff also presented items that will come to the board later this month or in August: closing inactive student-activity accounts, tax appeals submitted by the solicitor and food-service pricing. On lunch pricing, Miss Harvey said the district cannot set 2025–26 prices until the federal government issues the school-price-equity tool used to calculate allowable price increases; she said any increase is likely small, “probably talking about a dime.”

What happens next: the administration will present specific motions and dollar amounts for ratification at the district’s voting meetings and in August after the audit. The committee did not record formal votes on the items in the committee transcript; several items were presented for board action at the next regular or voting meeting.