KAVENTRY – The City Council voted 5-2 on the party line Tuesday night to increase the annual amount the Education Council is allowed to transfer to its reserve fund at the end of each fiscal year, with Republican members Julie Blanchard and John French disagree.
The school board will now be able to transfer up to 2% of its approved budget each fiscal year to a reserve account, compared to 1% that was previously allowed. This is the only fund that the school board can transfer from year to year and not return to the city’s coffers. This comes from unspent budget funds, board member Robin Gallagher said at a meeting on Tuesday.
Last month, Superintendent David Petrane wrote in a letter to the board that “the board firmly believes that increasing the allowable transfer amount from 1% to 2% will continue to mitigate the financial impact of contingencies on the overall operating budget of the city and district. ”
The fund has traditionally been used for capital and emergency expenses such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning in schools, CFO Amanda Bachaus said at a meeting on Tuesday.
The fund is also improving the board’s ability to “address projects at the end of the year … during the summer that will not be completed in fiscal year,” Gallagher said Tuesday.
The municipal and school financial years end on June 30 and begin on July 1.
Gallagher said that because the foundation allows the school board to pursue its own capital projects, the city does not need to transfer those projects to a five-year capital improvement plan.
The city council will still have to approve every purchase made at the expense of the fund, Bachaus said.
The reserve fund at any time may not exceed 3% of the total amount allocated to the Board of Education in the last financial year, Board Chair Lisa Thomas said on Tuesday.
Thomas said that since the current approved budget of the council is about $ 28.3 million, under the 2% rule a maximum of $ 566,116 could be placed in the reserve fund at the end of this fiscal year.
Blanchard said she opposes the changes because she wanted to “have a better relationship with the Board of Education and I feel it almost divides us.” She said she would like the unspent funds of the school board to be returned to the general fund of the city so that the reserves of the city and the school district are the same.
Gallagher said she did not think the Education Council was trying to “take advantage of taxpayers or the council.” She said increasing the amount the council can invest in its reserve fund each year could help it pay for more capital projects and “relieve pressure on the capital improvement plan.”
Ben covers Coventry and Toland for the Journal Inquirer.
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