Fort Zumwalt board approves midyear budget revision and several facilities and insurance contracts
Summary
The board approved a midyear budget revision incorporating a ~42% music insurance increase, a $534,126 North Middle School abatement contract, a three-year HVAC service renewal (6% increase), and parameters to buy additional umbrella coverage if within an estimated $100,000 range.
The Fort Zumwalt R-II Board approved a midyear 2024–25 budget revision that reflects several significant adjustments in revenues and expenses and included new forward forecasting for future years.
CFO Brian Whittle told the board the largest single change this year is the music insurance premium increase — about 42% — driven by consecutive years of excessive claims and a recent catastrophic hailstorm. Whittle said the district has offset parts of the hit with salary and benefit reductions (about $1.25 million) and projected supply savings (about $750,000). He also said the district saw about a 1,000-student decline in weighted average daily attendance this year, which lowered basic formula revenue by roughly $1 million; the state, however, raised funding per weighted ADA by roughly $350, a change Whittle said will be worth about $5 million to the district next year.
The board also approved staff recommendations on related business items brought during new business:
- Music insurance: staff recommended and the board approved renewal; Whittle said adding $4–5 million of umbrella coverage would cost in the neighborhood of $100,000 and staff will return if parameters change.
- HVAC: the board approved a three-year HVAC service and maintenance agreement with IFS, negotiated through cooperative procurement; staff said the contract rose about 6% but freezes the rate for three years.
- North Middle School abatement: staff recommended hiring Universal Abatement (procured via the Missouri Buys cooperative) for $534,126 to remove asbestos ahead of demolition of a 1959 wing; staff estimated abatement will take about 8–10 weeks and said additional demolition costs will be brought back to the board when available.
- Fund transfers: Whittle said $180,000 would be moved from debt service into the capital projects fund to better match the use of those dollars.
Each of the above items was approved by voice vote. Board discussion focused on preserving reserves, forward forecasting and limiting future shocks to the budget rather than adding immediate tax requests.
