In fact, mine operates on a philosophy of “let’s get away with as much as we can and spend it” – but more as we go along during our budget season. No, this post is about one that did the right thing – “Huzzah!” to the Conway School Board (reformatted, emphasis mine):
CONWAY — Conway School Board members shared some good news earlier this month — they’ll be returning nearly $2 million to the town to help offset taxes. At a recent meeting, the board revealed it has more than $1.7 million left in its coffers from the prior school year. On top of that, they agreed to release another $215,000 by not retaining the 2.5 percent of the budget for the next year.
“This is great news, it’s big,” said school board member Mark Hounsell at the Sept. 11 meeting. “At the end of the 2016-17 school year, the district shows an ending school year balance of $1,783,854. That is money that will be returned to the taxpayers. That’s a very good return.”
The district will return $1,998,704. According to a memo from SAU 9 Finance Director Becky Jefferson, the fund balance of $1,783,854 “is made up of $153,242 in revenue surplus plus $1,215,665 in expenditure surplus and $414,947 prior year fund balance retainage.”
(H/T: Conway Daily Sun)