Monday, December 8, 2008

New 5 Year Forecast

According to the published agenda, Treasurer Brian Wilson is scheduled to present his new Five Year Forecast to the School Board at their meeting tonight at Avery Elementary, 7pm. The big question is how much needs to be cut from the spending plan, in spite of the levy passing in November.

I did some 'back of the envelope' calculations a few months back and came up with about $3 million/yr. After that, I began to see this number being used by school officials, and I don't know if they were just using my number, or whether they had independently come to the same conclusion.

I guess we'll find out tonight.

3 comments:

  1. So it appears that the board found $1.6 million in savings on the health plan. That is a pretty nice reduction, and I applaud their efforts; it equals around 25 teachers positions at the current average salary. Makes you wonder if they did some serious digging how much they could save in other areas. I know Paul preaches that most of the expenses other than salary and benefits are too trivial to spend much time on, however that is one area where he and I disagree. No, it may not add to up to all that much but I am a firm believer that every penny counts, and it shows the taxpayers that they care. As long as they don't fritter the savings away with another too-generous contract in 2 more years....

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  2. That's not exactly what I say. The Board should instruct the Superintendent each year to drive x% out of operational costs, and then let him figure it out. There are way too many moving parts for any of the details to occupy the Board.

    I had to do that pretty much every year in my group, and we're talking a $250 million operation, so a one or two percent expected efficiency gain was still a big number. We almost always got there.

    The school district is of similar size, so there ought to be a million or so 'found' every year through creative thinking at the building/classroom level.

    But from a strategic planning perspective, nothing else besides salaries and benefits is significant. This renegotiation of the health insurance coverage is an excellent example. In one act, they cut the budget deficit in half.

    It could have been completely eliminated had the HEA/OAPSE accepted my proposal to skip one year of their 3% base pay increase.

    And what did you hear Doug Maggied ask about? How much is the cost of diesel fuel affecting the budget.

    Good grief...

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  3. And what did you hear Doug Maggied ask about? How much is the cost of diesel fuel affecting the budget.

    Good grief...


    LMAO. I'm sorry, THAT'S just funny! Single-ply toilet paper will also save some money!

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