Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
TEN SLEEP – In the adoption of the 2020-21 fiscal year budget for Washakie County School District No. 2, Business Manager Connie Gay gave a detailed outline of the budget for the next year.
The budget that was passed Monday night included $3,395,376 in the general fund for the 20-21 school year, which is an increase of $51,850 from last year’s budget.
According to Gay, the budget increase is primarily made up due to increase to unemployment, employee benefits and property/liability insurance. The district saw an assessed valuation increase of around 9.7%, raising the valuation to $31,176,637.
Gay said that because of fluctuation in the district’s enrollment and funding from year to year, it makes it difficult to anticipate expenditures and state guarantee amounts.
According to Gay, the budget that was passed for this year was not expected to be the difficult year, but the district will monitor the budget more closely on a month to month basis this year, as the state is expected to announce additional budget cuts in the coming year due to statewide revenue decline due to COVID-19 and the downturn in the energy sector in Wyoming.
Governor Mark Gordon announced on Monday more than $250 million in budget cuts after a projection showed an almost $1 billion shortfall for the general fund and another $500 million for school funding. (See related story on page A9 regarding current budget cuts.)
In the District No. 2 budget that was passed for the 20-21 fiscal year for the school district, there was $2.5 million budgeted for the design of a new Ten Sleep school. The design funding had has not yet been approved by the state. Gay said she put it in the budget just in case they approve the project, but is doubtful as the state is discussing no large scale capitol construction for the coming year in order to save money.
Gay also said that they would be able to submit COVID-19 related costs from all the way back to March in order to try and receive grants to cover those costs, which may help offset major costs during the pandemic.
Gay said that the number that may be carried over to the depreciation fund this next year could total up to $143,000 but she is uncertain what the exact number will be as the budget is sure to change throughout the year.