The Churchill County School Board met Wednesday night for a special meeting to discuss the ending budget fund and what cuts could be made to meet the recommended 4 percent.
The trustees didn’t waste anytime getting to the subject on everyone’s mind.
Trustee Carmen Schank made the motion to accept the proposed budget as presented and to meet the Nevada Revised Statutes and Administrative Code of a 4 percent ending fund balance and that the board cuts whatever percentage necessary, equally on all line items except salaries and contracts in order to meet the 4 percent ending fund balance.
President Ron Evans reiterated what Schank said.
“What she’s saying is we have to cut every line item back,” Evans said. “The only thing I have to say about that is we are worrying about 0.6 percent of a $33 million budget. There is no business in the county or country that tries to get their expenses and their income projected a year out that close and I don’t see any need to put that in this motion. I think it should be approved as is and we see what happens.”
Trustee Richard Gent said he agrees with Schank and where she’s coming from. Gent said some of the projected cuts have increased but he’s unsure as to why the numbers are going up.
Trustee Nona McFarlane said she’s very concerned about the situation the district is in.
“Our budget has been declining for five years, our population has been declining for five years,” McFarlane said. “We’re constantly living on this edge and we’re in violation of our own policies, we’re not even enforcing our own policies so there’s no point in even having these policies if we’re not going to follow them and enforce them.”
McFarlane said that there have been big mistakes made in the budget and last year the budget mistakes carried over to affect the budget this year. “$111,146 isn’t chump change to me,” McFarlane said. “And yet we can’t make that money up.”
McFarlane continued by saying Superintendent Dr. Sandra Sheldon released an email saying the school district is in dire straights and the audit that was done reported the district does not have any cushion. McFarlane said even the financial director said there is no cushion for the district.
“We’re still in the black, and we can still pay our bills,” McFarlane said. “But what are we going to tell the state of how we’re going to increase our revenues? What is going to be the answer from this board to the state on how we’re going to increase our revenues? Are we going to go have fundraisers and cake sales? Unless we go line by line how are we going to find money? I know this is a difficult issue to figure out and having the state come in … but I don’t know if that’s worse or better since it’s never been done here.”
After further discussion the trustees passed the motion Schank made by a 4-3 vote.