Leonardtown, MD — Christmas not only occurs in December and April. Sometimes it happens in August. That’s what the St, Mary’s County Board of Education found at their Aug. 31 meeting. Assistant Superintendent of Fiscal Services and Human Resources Tammy McCourt (shown at left) informed the school board that there was a $3 million fund balance from the fiscal year that ended June 30.

McCourt reported that the fund balance came from three sources: pharmaceutical rebates credits from healthcare coverage, lower than budgeted utility costs due to mild temperatures and lower fuel prices, and larger than anticipated revenue from nonpublic school placements.,

Savings were $1.3 million in the healthcare costs, $1.2 million for utilities and $500,000 for the non-public tuition, according to McCourt.

The board faced a tight budget and much drama in the spring as they were developing it, causing them not to be able to fund the negotiated agreements with two unions and forcing a renegotiation. They will now use $2.5 million for one-time costs in two areas: purchase of textbooks and additional maintenance.

The textbook purchases include:
• 4th and 5th Grade Houghton Mifflin reading textbooks assigned to the previous fiscal year;
• 2nd and 3rd Grade Houghton and Mifflin reading textbooks in the current fiscal year; and
• Pursuing the textbook adoption process for reading textbooks from kindergarten and first grade and grades 6 through 12.

Additional maintenance will include:
• Cooling tower repair;
• Sewage plant upgrades;
• Fire pump and fire alarm upgrades;
• Asphalt paving;
• Flooring repairs and replacements; and’
• HVAC controls, duct work and air handlers.

With the end of the budget process the board was left with less than a $500,000 unassigned general fund balance. School Superintendent Scott Smith, however, pointed out that there was also $4 million in a healthcare reserve. It was only two years ago that the board was bitten by an unanticipated $6 million deficit in those costs, leading them to be more fiscally cautious.

Smith’s comments were in response to a question from school board member Dan Carney about whether there was enough money in the fund balance account. With the use of the $2.5 million for textbooks and maintenance the budget will have a $1 million fund balance, twice what it started.

School Board President Karin Bailey pointed out that in years past the board has been criticized for having too much money in the fund balance. That criticism said the money should be put to work. Kind of a damned if you do and damned if you don’t situation.

The school board will have to go to the county commissioners to get approval for the use of the newly-found, money from the last fiscal year.

Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com