Dr. Greg Murry said he had been heavily anticipating pushing the proverbial button and seeing the results of the Conway School District's fiscal year.
During a regular meeting of the district's Board of Education Tuesday night, he told the group the final numbers were surprising.
"The most important number for us to be looking at is our ending balance in our operating fund because that is a significant indicator of our fiscal health," Murry said. "And for us that number is $7,350,642 and that is quite frankly higher than I anticipated it to be at that time."
Murry said in a memo to the school board he knew the ending balance would exceed the district's projection of $2.5 million, but he had no idea the number would surpass the ending balance of the 2006-07 school year, which was about $6 million.
The short answer Murry gave to why the ending balance was much higher than expected was that the district spent less money and received more money than was budgeted.
According to Murry, the Conway School District spent about $1 million less than planned during the past school year, mostly due to savings in supplies and equipment.
What the district received for the year was a higher total than normal because it acquired $1.5 million in state revenue not budgeted for and $300,000 more than predicted in special education catastrophic funding. However, the majority of the dollars received by the district during the 2007-08 school year came directly from its patrons.
"Our revenue was $3.7 million higher than projected and the majority of that had to do with property taxes," Murry said. "What we received in property taxes was $2.2 million higher than anticipated."
Murry attributed the dramatic increase in property taxes to the rapid growth in the city of Conway and an unusually healthy collection for the year. He said he would not base future budget predictions off of this year's revenue as the property tax figure was "an anomaly in terms of growth."
With the work the board and district administrators did throughout the school year to trim about $4 million from the budget, Murry said the financial report was the proof that their hard work made a difference.
"It is important for us to understand that the work we had to do was important and it was prudent work to get us back to where we needed to be financially," Murry said.
To put it into further perspective for the board, Murry said if the Conway School District had continued its declining trend in ending balances over the past few years and continued its expenditure pace, the report would have shown an ending balance of more than $500,000 in the red.
"The balance we're ending with is extremely good news and it certainly gives relief to all of the administrators sitting on the front row," Murry said.
During the financial portion of the meeting, the board also unanimously approved the budget of expenditures for the 2009-10 school year to be placed on the ballot during the upcoming school board election.
Although the budget was set at $78.5 million for the election, Murry told the group to not mark that number down too hard, as it will likely be adjusted in the future.
"What is important with this is that we are not changing the tax structure for those who live in the district at this time," Murry said.
The millage rate on the ballot will remain at the same 36.20 mills for the patrons of the Conway School District, he said.
"That is not a very high rate quite frankly when compared to similar districts in the state," Murry said. "The patrons of our district really get a bargain."
Dr. Terry Fiddler, school board president, also pointed out that Conway has the lowest millage rate in Faulkner County, something he said should make the board proud.
The board also took the following action during its regular meeting Tuesday:
Heard updates on construction projects throughout the district from David Porter and Carroll Bishop, assistant superintendent. Porter said work is finishing on Woodrow Cummins Elementary School and the district should take possession of the building by the end of next week. He also said work is on schedule for the roof project at Carl Stuart Middle School and the renovation work at the east campus of Conway High School.
Approved secondary handbooks for the district.
Approved the list of bills paid in June.
Approved the transfer of two children from the Laura Ham family to the South Conway County School District.
After an executive session, the board approved the following resignations from employees Tuesday night:
Dennis Schuemann II, math coach.
Clarissa Collins, paraprofessional at Ida Burns Elementary School.
Bettie Spear, cafeteria manager at Florence Mattison Elementary School.
The board also approved the hiring of the following employees after the executive session:
Belinda Claunch, guidance counselor at Carl Stuart Middle School.
Erin Hightower, family and consumer science teacher at Conway High School East.
Kyndle Stein Metz, family and consumer science teacher at Bob Courtway Middle School.
Shannon Bowden, secondary biology teacher.
Erika Smith, third-grade teacher.
Zinnia Clanton, business office manager.
Valerie Tufu, secretary at Ruth Doyle Intermediate School.
Charlene Wesley, cosmetology paraprofessional.
Reba Wood, cafeteria manager at Theodore Jones Elementary School.
Michelle Deavers, cafeteria manager at Florence Mattison Elementary School.
Shannon Jones and Mary Lamb, food service workers at Conway High School East.
The board also approved Zinnia Clanton as the district treasurer during its regular meeting.
(Staff writer Jessica Bauer can be reached by e-mail at jessica.bauer@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1236.)
