Finance committee approves $600,000 deposit to capital improvement trust

Michael Loth, chair of the Germantown School District finance committee, said the committee voted to recommend a $600,000 transfer from the district general ledger into the district's capital improvement trust (Fund 46).

Britney Oltendorf, a district staff member, told the committee Fund 46 is a separate trust created in 2020 that must sit for at least five years and can only be spent for items listed on an approved 10‑year capital plan. "So as of the June 30th of this year, we had $913,000 in our capital improvement trust," Oltendorf said, and staff asked the board to approve moving $600,000 now so the district meets state reporting expectations and preserves its shared‑cost state aid position. Committee members asked whether the trust manager is the same as the OPEB custodian and Oltendorf said the manager was selected when the trust was created and that DPI receives the district's 10‑year plan and the district is audited annually.

Committee members pressed why the deposit was larger than earlier estimates; staff said the $600,000 reflects a combination of planned expenditures that did not occur this year, unspent departmental budgets, and one‑time rebates or dividends that increased available balance. The finance committee approved the recommendation by voice vote and will forward the item to the full board for final action.