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District budget hearing flags 100-student drop and 57% spike in insurance costs
Summary
CFO Brian Berley told the Sumner Bonney Lake School District board that enrollment fell by about 100 FTE this year and insurance costs rose 57% year over year (about $1.7 million), contributing to a projected $8.6 million decrease in fund balance under current assumptions.
The Sumner Bonney Lake School District's chief financial officer, Brian Berley, told the board during the July 28 budget hearing that the district recorded 9,903.3 full-time-equivalent students for the year — about 100 fewer than the prior year's 10,003.5 and roughly 150 below last year's budget projection. He said the district budget submission totals more than 200 pages and the formal adoption is scheduled for next month.
Berley outlined the five major funds and their planned expenditure limits: a general fund of $228,000,000; an ASB fund just under $3,000,000; transportation a little under $1,000,000; capital projects nearly $150,000,000; and debt service $34,000,000 — a combined total the presentation characterized as a little over $410,000,000. "We're about the 30th largest district in the state out of 295 districts," he said.
The presentation highlighted cost pressures. "Our insurance cost is going up 57% year over year. That's $1,700,000," Berley said, adding that insurance has risen more than 300% over seven years. He also cited a 14% year-over-year rise in utilities and several smaller state program reductions, including changes to bus depreciation schedules that reduce annual state aid for buses.
Using current assumptions Berley projected the beginning fund balance could be about $39,000,000 and, if revenues remain at the plan and expenditures follow the projection, the change in fund balance could be a decrease of about $8.6 million over the coming year. He emphasized the four-year outlook is a conditional projection and said district administration would make adjustments before any thresholds were breached. "We would make changes way before this happened as district administration," he said.
The board recessed the regular meeting for the public hearing, then returned and noted the formal adoption of the budget will be on next month's agenda. The CFO invited board members and community members to review the full budget PDF and to contact his office for detailed questions.
