By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
The largest expenditure in the Juab School District general fund budget is for personnel. “Personnel costs account for 90 percent of the general fund,” said Darin Clark, JSD business administrator. “The Juab School District has approximately 425 employees, most are paid from the general fund.” Clark explained the budget to those attending the district budget hearing on Wednesday. Following the public hearing, the board of education, opened the general board meeting. One of the agenda Items there was the adoption of the budget and the board approved that item with a unanimous vote. The 2019 final budget was also adopted. During the hearing, Clark said that the 425 employees include 181 full-time equivalents (FTEs) that are “contract” employees. Of the 180 FTEs, 125.25 are teachers, 42.25 are classified employees and 13.5 are school or district administrators. “In the non-K-12 programs,” said Clark, “$570,000 has been budgeted. Those programs include athletics and other extracurricular activities, pre-school and adult education.” Growing programs include soccer and tennis. He said that $1.95 million was budgeted in the debt service fund to pay bond principal and interest plus miscellaneous fees related to bond compliance and reporting. Also included was $100,000 budgeted for technology. The 2019 final budget highlights were that the revised general fund budget increased 2.9 percent over the original budget. “The 2019 general fund budget increased mainly due to additional state grants and $500 certified/$250 classified salary adjust,” said Clark. The general fund state revenue includes a 4-percent increase in WPU (Weighted Pupil Unit) which will generate approximately $250,000 in new revenue, an additional $313 generated through growth and a Teacher & Student Success Account to generate an additional $136,000. Property taxes, because of state law, cannot be raised to bring in more than had been contributed the year before. Therefore, he said, the property tax would decrease a bit. New growth brings in the extra tax, he said. Revenues for the 2019 FY (fiscal year) were $4,450,000 from property taxes and other local revenue, $13,685,000 from state funds, and $900,000 from federal funds. That comes to a total of $19,035,00. The proposed budget revenues for 2020 are $4,600,000 from property taxes and other local revenues, $14,600,000 from the state and $900,000 from the federal government for a total of $20,100,000. “Reviewing the general fund revenue by source shows that state funds bring in 73 percent, local funds bring in 23 percent and federal funds bring in 4 percent,” said Clark. The 2020 budgeted general fund expenditures by function indicate that instruction is 67 percent, maintenance is 8 percent, school administration is 6 percent, student instruction and support is 9 percent, transportation is 4 percent, general administration is 4 percent and central is 2 percent. The basic state M&O (Maintenance and Operation) was set at .001666 in 2019 and was proposed to be the same for 2020. “That is still to be determined,” said Clark. “It will be adjusted when that is determined.” Voted Leeway (M&O) was .000394 in 2019 and is proposed to be .000380 in 2020; the board local levy was .002421 in 2019 and is proposed to be .002350; the charter school levy was 000044 in 2019 and is proposed to be 000027 in 2020; capital outlay was .002465 in 2019 and is proposed to be .002377 in 2020; and debt service was .001756 in 2019 and is proposed to be .001769 in 2020. The total for FY 2019 was .008746 and is proposed to be .008569 in 2020. Clark said that watching the assessed valuation of property was interesting. “For the first time, we reached $1 million in assessed valuation for the Juab School District,” said Clark. In 2017, the JSD assessed valuation was $842,220,893, in 2018 it was $890,264,000, in 2019 it was $954,079,967, and in 2020 it was $1,025,323,535. “The general fund expenditures for the 2019-2020 budget includes: a 2.5 percent cost of living increase for all employees, a $500 increase for all teachers, funding of step and lane increases, and increase of 2.6 percent in health insurance premiums and changes in staffing,” said Clark. The school activity fund accounts for individual school revenue and expenses and the budget totals $1.3 million for all schools. “Juab High School accounts for just over half of the total,” he said. The capital outlay 2019-2020 budget includes: $2,000,000 of capital improvements including major projects at the Juab Junior High West Campus, summer maintenance and equipment. It also includes bus purchase and a contingency budget for unforeseen events, $850,000 for instructional equipment and supplies, and $717,425 debt service payments on outstanding revenue bonds. School Food Services are also an important part of the district budget. Clark said that $1.387 million was budgeted to run the school lunch program. “Revenues for the school lunch program are 54 percent from the Federal National School Lunch Program, 29 percent student and other sales and 17 percent from state programs which comes from the state liquor tax,” said Clark. Expenditures for the program are 60 percent food related purchases, 38 percent personnel and 2 percent equipment costs or overhead. General fund expenditures by object show that personnel costs represent 90 percent, textbooks and supplies are 5.5 percent, purchased services are 3.9 percent, equipment is 0.4 percent and other is 0.2 percent.
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