WEYBURN — A steady downward slide of what was once a healthy surplus in 2017 has decreased within the South East Cornerstone Public School Division.
That disclosure in the audited financial report was just one final tidbit of information highlighted by the division’s finance manager Shelley Toth who provided a summary of SECPSD financial activities within the past fiscal year. The items are contained in the annual auditor’s report that is filed with the provincial Ministry of Education.
On the operations side of education in southeast Saskatchewan, SECPSD is running a tight and efficient ship, with only a few emerging concerns outside of the sliding surplus.
Toth mentioned in her presentation to the division’s board members at their Nov. 20 public meeting in Weyburn that grant revenue, most of it from the province that now controls taxable income for education, was $2 million lower than budget expectations in the past fiscal year but total revenue slippage though was at $836,000 or less than one per cent below budget expectations.
In the past year, total revenues in the SECPSD amounted to $113.2 million while expenses came in at $114.3 million for a net deficit of $1.15 million, which was slightly better than the budgeted deficit of $1.23 million. That was due to the fact that other revenue, outside the government grant system, was $1.36 million higher than budget with the bulk of that coming from additional interest revenue being added as a result of the increase in the prime rate.
Digging down into further details, Toth said total operating expenses were $922,000 lower than budget, or just under one per cent. Significant variances in that sector included instructional expenses that came in about $1 million under budget due to unfilled vacancies and unused contingencies.
“Plant operation and maintenance expenses were $1.1 million higher than budget as additional facility repairs were completed using surplus from prior years from the Ministry’s preventive maintenance and renewal (PMR) program,” she said.
Student transportation expenses were $688,000 under budget. Toth noted that bus driver salaries were under budget due to unfilled bus driver positions and contracted transportation services were higher than budget as a result. Repairs and maintenance of buses were under budget while amortization of tangible capital assets was higher than budget which was reflected in the fact that there is a newer bus fleet with additional buses having been purchased over the past two years, meaning 30 new buses last year and 27 more this fiscal year.
The 27 new buses came with a price tag of just under $4 million and were part of the $6 million added to the division’s tangible asset base that also included four trucks and one wheelchair accessible van at a total cost of $367,000.
Furniture and equipment purchases amounted to $350,000 and that included caretaking and facility maintenance equipment at $143,000 and $69,000 for transportation equipment.
There was another $719,000 spent on needed computer hardware and audio-visual equipment.
Toth noted there is $627,000 tied up in assets “under construction,” meaning the addition of a relocatable classroom at Assiniboia Park Elementary School in Weyburn and the start of the design process for the new school in Carlyle.
As for the previously noted operations budget and surplus decline, she reported that the once healthy surplus of $32.3 million in 2017 has now been reduced to $18.1 million following the seven years of steady decline in financial resources being made available.
Chairwoman Audrey Trombley thanked Toth for the detailed financial information and commented on the concern surrounding the declining surplus.
