School board to take action on 2023-24 final budget

The Carson City School Board on Tuesday will take possible action on the final budget for the fiscal year 2023-24, including adopting a resolution for its approval and transmittal of a letter.

School districts are required to meet their June 8 deadline with the Nevada Department of Taxation but this year, CCSD will wait until the session of the Nevada Legislature ends June 5 to make any major amendments to its tentative budget.

In March, Chief Financial Officer Spencer Winward said the district would expect an increase of approximately $8.9 million in its general fund revenues this next fiscal year even as its average daily enrollment count would decrease by about 75 students from about 7,286 students to 7,211 students.

According to Winward’s tentative budget on April 11, CCSD’s estimated general fund balance as of July 1, 2023, is $9.3 million and total general revenue projections for FY24 are $66.9 million with a projected general ending fund balance on June 3, 2024, of $4.3 million. Total operating expenditures including transfers for FY24 are $71.8 million.

Winward said he preferred not to bank upon the sudden increase, instead keeping projections conservative even as the Legislature progressed in case “the rug gets yanked out under us,” he said in April.

The Department of Taxation has provided a timeline for all local governments except school districts to adopt and file a final budget with the department and county clerk by June 1. School districts must adopt and file their budget by June 8.

According to Nevada Revised Statute 354.598, should the Legislature increase the revenue or expenditures of any local government and that increase was not anticipated and included in the final budget, the local government can amend the final budget within 30 days after the end of session and file with the Department of Taxation, which Winward said in April the district likely would do.

Also on the agenda Tuesday, Feuling will introduce school district retirees and employees who are leaving CCSD after 10 or more years of service.

Associate Superintendent Tasha Fuson will discuss a six-month review of the district’s “Plan for a Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services” for the beginning of the 2023-24 school year. The last update was in January and has been a requirement from the Nevada Department of Education and from which CCSD had received funding to keep schools functional for the delivery of academic services after the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

Trustees will discuss changing the school board’s meeting schedule from twice a month to once a month and make possible revisions to Bylaw 050-P regarding the board’s organization.

The board also will hear from Winward, Feuling and capital and special projects manager Mark Johnson and take possible action on the revised Capital Improvement Plan for fiscal years 2023-28 after recently hearing about the Facilities Master Plan at the May 9 meeting.

The Carson City School Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. starting with a closed door session at 5:30 p.m. and reconvene to the public at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Robert Crowell Board Room in the Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William St.