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Board hears rising unemployment and PERS costs; timber revenue discussion highlights funding volatility
Summary
Trustees discussed a roughly $10,000 summer unemployment bill, a reported 4% PERS increase for the district (with some districts facing higher increases), and how variable timber revenue affects state school funding allocations.
Board members and staff reviewed recent finance items, including a summer unemployment bill of just over $10,000, an announced district PERS increase of about 4%, and concerns about the variability of forestry/timber revenue that feeds into state education funding formulas.
A committee member said, "Our bill for summer came through... we paid a little over 10,000 in unemployment this summer," and staff noted that PERS rates are changing and could vary widely across districts depending on their account structures. Staff described conversations at business-manager meetings where districts received widely different proposed rate notices and said some districts face double-digit PERS increases.
Trustees discussed the implications for budgeting and noted that temporarily frozen rates from COVID-era policy are now being recalculated, which could materially affect district budgets going forward. The board asked staff to gather more precise figures and to include potential unemployment and PERS adjustments in future budget planning.
