Joplin School District plans for increased revenues in 2019-20 budget

Jun. 24--The Joplin Board of Education on Tuesday night will review a proposed budget for fiscal year 2019-20 that could provide extra revenue for employee salaries as well as pay off a loan for 2011 tornado rebuild projects.

The budget projects $87.67 million in total revenues and $99.37 million in total expenditures for the fiscal year that begins on July 1. That represents an increase from the 2018-19 budget, which at this time last year projected $85.83 million in revenues and $85.46 million in expenditures.

The primary reason for the imbalance in the 2019-20 budget is a district plan to pay off the balance of a $14 million lease-purchase bond held by Bank of America, which tips the "expenditures" column, according to Ron Lankford, assistant superintendent for business services. The initial loan was taken out by the school district to help pay upfront for rebuild projects after the May 2011 tornado as it waited for reimbursements from the federal and state emergency management agencies.

"The district set aside and committed all federal and state funds received from SEMA (State Emergency Management Agency) to assist with disaster recovery," Lankford said in documents prepared for the board. "Those funds, along with committed district funds, will be sufficient to enable the district to pay in full by June 1, 2020, all outstanding principal debt obligations. ... Without this item, the preliminary expenditure budget would be $10,250,000 lower."

Administrators are optimistic that next year's budget will hold "a modest increase" in revenues because of increased funding from the state and new construction and reassessment of existing properties that would contribute to local tax revenue.

Those funds will help the district with the cost of operations such as property insurance, workers' compensation, building maintenance and repair, transportation, utilities, and employee salaries and wages, Lankford said in board documents.

"The revenue growth will allow the district to fund increased expenditures, primarily for salary enhancement for both professional and classified staff," he said. "These adjustments are needed to bring district salaries closer to those of area school districts, as well as comparably sized districts across the state."

In other business Tuesday, the board will:

--Consider a request from administrators to declare as surplus property a lot adjoining the former Emerson Elementary School site, near 1820 Pennsylvania Ave. If approved, sealed bids for the property would be accepted by the school district until July 16, with the minimum bid set at $1,500.

--Be asked to authorize more than $89,000 for half of the cost of four school resource officers. The remaining half of the total cost will come from the city of Joplin, which has partnered with the school district since 2007-08 to place police officers in several schools.

--Hear a report from the district's long-term facilities committee, which has been reviewing options for the nearly 100-year-old Columbia Elementary School.

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