Hampden’s faculty district has an almost $9M funds surplus
A number of the Maine cities that make up Regional College Unit 22 hope the district will give a portion of its year-end surplus funds again to the communities.
The funds for RSU 22 — which serves Hampden, Frankfort, Newburgh and Winterport — was about $36 million final yr. On the finish of the yr, it had $8.89 million, in accordance with a June 2022 audit obtainable on the district’s web site. A year-end fund steadiness occurs when a faculty district’s revenues exceed estimates, expenditures are lower than the full of appropriated funds or some mixture of those.
In Maine, public faculty districts should carry ahead their fund balances to satisfy wants within the subsequent yr or over a three-year interval. But when a district’s unallocated steadiness is greater than 9 p.c of the earlier yr’s funds, the district should kind a plan to spend the cash inside three years, which could embrace giving a portion again to the cities it serves.
If cash was returned to the 4 cities that RSU 22 serves, it might assist ease the tax burden on residents if the district seeks extra funding sooner or later, Winterport City Supervisor Casey Ashey stated. The funds, which should be used for academic functions, would go into reserve accounts to complement these will increase, he stated.
“It’s a win-win, actually,” he stated. “The cities can legally maintain these funds in reserve accounts, and funds would nonetheless assist the district.”
Winterport’s municipal funds is about $3.26 million, and its contribution to the district this yr is about $3.37 million, Ashey stated. Greater than half the city’s taxes go towards supporting the colleges, which is a giant deal for residents, he stated.
RSU 22’s bills got here in nicely below funds due to positions the district budgeted for however was unable to fill, federal and native grants that coated the price of tasks, and a photo voltaic set up that saved the district greater than $300,000, Superintendent Nicholas Raymond stated.
Hampden Academy additionally accepted extra non-resident tuition college students than it anticipated, leading to extra income for the district, he stated.
“Over a interval of some years, that fund steadiness rises fairly shortly,” he stated, noting the district is within the early levels of growing a plan to spend the cash.
That course of includes placing collectively a listing of the district’s priorities, which could embrace repairing a faculty’s roof or resurfacing the observe at the highschool, although no selections have been made, Raymond stated. The district might select to place a portion of the funds into its 4 reserve accounts, he stated.
Grant needs to see the district, by means of its funds course of, return the tens of millions of {dollars} in its year-end fund steadiness, she stated. When she attended a finance committee assembly Aug. 7, she requested if checks might be issued to the cities and was advised by members that they weren’t positive and would look into it, she stated.
“I’m very upset,” she stated. “I’d wish to see the higher portion of that cash returned to the taxpayers of all of the cities.”
The district can not problem checks to residents as a result of the funds legally should be used for schooling, however “there’s an absolute purpose to present a few of it again to the cities,” Raymond stated.
This might occur as a lump sum or over three years, however extra conversations are wanted, which can seemingly occur when funds season begins in January, he stated.
