By Emma Rausch
emma@thepaperofwabash.com
WABASH COUNTY, Ind. – The MSD of Wabash County Board of Education cut more than $2.4 million from its budget Tuesday night, Feb. 14.
As ordered by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, the board trimmed $2,447,990 from its General Fund, Capital Projects Fund, Transportation Fund, Bus Replacement and Rainy Day Fund.
The district’s School Pension and Debt Service funds received no reduction.
MSD proposed a $24,875,556 budget prior to Tuesday’s cuts.
The budget’s cuts were determined by the assessed value and total tax rate, according to Chris Kuhn, MSD assistant superintendent of finance.
“So as the assessed value increases, the tax rate decreases and so a lot of that tax rate is dependent upon what our assessed value is going to be,” Kuhn said. “So we always advertise a lower assessed value and … our assessed value this year was higher than 2016. So the assessed value was ($733,746,352).”
The board’s proposed budget was based on a 1.361 total tax rate.
In line with the DLGF’s budget notice, the actual total tax rate was set to .8573.
The new budget affords a $14,589,985 General Fund, $2,322,523 Capital Projects Fund, $1,449,351 Transportation Fund, $311,448 Bus Replacement and $258,218 Rainy Day Fund.
In other news, the board unanimously approved purchasing three IC Collins Buses at $82,343 per bus.
The board also approved two resolutions to transfer unencumbered Capital Projects funds to the Child Development Fund, or 1310 Fund.
The first resolution transferred $300,000 from the Capital Projects Fund into the Rainy Day Fund. The second resolution transferred $260,880.07 from the Rainy Day Fund into the 1310 Fund.
“So when we developed our budget, we anticipated being able to take some monies out of Capital Projects and move that to Rainy Day so that we could take that money in Rainy Day and pay off (the Child Development Fund),” Kuhn explained.
Approximately $40,000 remained in the Rainy Day Fund for other costs and payments that “will have to come out of Rainy Day,” he continued.