By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
Monday night at the Rockwell Administration Center, 323 W. 12th, the USD 489 Board of Education hosted its required public budget hearing. At the meeting, there was no public participation or discussion, likely due to budget staying close to last year, despite lower revenues for the district and no surprises in the budget document.
Tracy Kiser, executive director of finance and support services, presented the full budget document at the beginning of the meeting.
“Sixty-six percent of our budget goes to instruction,” Kiser said to open the meeting.
With a $299 million dollar valuation – down from $310 million last year, the district was forced to trim the budget, but did not increase mills to adjust to the cut.
The mill will be at 45.609 for the year.
Per pupil expenditures are down from $14,538 to $13,494 from last year, due to the lower valuation and decreased state spending.
The total capital outlay budget for the upcoming year total $3,789,568 – the amount approved for spending by the state – which is likely to be only fully utilized “in case something catastrophic should happen,” Kiser said.
The board unanimously approved the budget.