District 2 budget includes state funds for school design

TEN SLEEP – Washakie County School District (WCSD) No. 2 adopted their 2021-22 fiscal year budget before their monthly meeting on Tuesday, July 20, which included $2.5 million for design of the new Ten Sleep School.

The design funds were approved by the Wyoming Legislature as part of the Wyoming Supplemental Budget during this year’s legislative session in April.

According to WCSD No. 2 Business Manager Connie Gay, the funds to design the school will be placed into the capital construction portion of the budget. The district is currently seeking out an owner’s representative to represent the district’s needs during the design and building phase of the new school.

Gay said that the funds provided will only be used for the design of the school and none of the funds will be used on the construction of the building.

She said that the general fund for the district saw an $88,123 increase over the 2020-21 fiscal year.

“This increase is primarily made up of increases to employee salaries, employee benefits and utilities,” Gay said.

There was no increase to the base salary for employees, with the base remaining at $41,500. The salary schedule remained the same for employees, with steps and lanes being approved for those eligible.

According to Gay, the district received $250,186 of governor funds due to COVID-19, and still has just over $30,000 still available to spend.

The district also has $19,473.25 of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) II to spend which they have not spent any of, and $43,734.15 of ESSER III/American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to spend.

ESSER III funds are yet to be distributed by the state legislature as they are still set to debate if and how the funds will be distributed to districts.

Gay said that all grants and title acts were fully funded this year.

She said there are no concerns going forward with the budget but due to fluctuation in the district’s enrollment and funding from year to year it is difficult to anticipate expenditures and state guarantee amounts.

BUDGETS

The budgets for the 2021-22 fiscal year are as follows:

General fund $3,483,499

Special Revenue $259,272

Major Maintenance $542,701

Capital Construction $2,500,000

Depreciation $519,594

Food service $179,847

Insurance $19,954

Teacherage $65,962

Activity $74,342

Total budget: $7,645,170