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11/04/2020 06:49 AMThe Region 4 (R4) Board of Education (BOE) took action at its last meeting in October to approve using $220,000 in unexpended funds from fiscal year 2019-’20 (FY ’20) to help reduce a $366,328 cumulative deficit in the cafeteria fund. The deficit for FY ’20 was $54,247.
“The Region 4 cafeteria checking account has sufficient funds to repay a portion of this, but it will not reduce it entirely and we need to address it because we don’t foresee the ability of the R4 cafeteria fund to be able to pay off that receivable,” said R4 Finance Director Kelly Sterner.
The use of surplus funds in addition to funds from the R4 checking account would help get the deficit down to a “manageable level,” Sterner said.
Prior to the board’s approval of the transfer, Sterner reported the grand total of surplus funds from FY ’20 to be $436,463. Although it was derived from across the budget, almost half was from salaries and benefits.
The amount for the surplus takes into account money yet to be spent that was approved by the R4 BOE in mid-June, including $62,500 to cover costs related to a security door upgrade at John Winthrop Middle School (JWMS) for which the administration received preliminary design options this summer.
Superintendent of Schools Brian White reported the administration’s intention to form a building committee to review the architectural work, which will be presented to the R4 board at an upcoming meeting.
The other outstanding project, a $27,700 grounds use survey of athletic facilities at Valley Regional High School (VRHS) and JWMS, includes the Mislick property.
The Mislick property is being surveyed “to identify what would be involved in the potential development of that land and also to identify whether or not there might be an athletic need to develop that land,” said White.
In mid-June, the R4 board had also approved using $106,248 from the FY ’20 surplus to pay down a deficit in the capital fund.
“We’re also working to close some other, smaller open purchase orders, which could result in a slightly different bottom line, but we’ll see how that shakes out,” said Sterner.
Another item addressed during the financial update was the health insurance reserve fund.
Sterner discussed the need to monitor the account, since the health care system has not fully reopened due to the pandemic and participants have likely postponed elective medical procedures.
She also reported that R4 was seeing the highest number of unemployment claims out of all local districts since the closing of schools in March. The claims for March, April, and May, which totaled $4,981, did not require a transfer of funds.
Some claims are being disputed by R4, but with a backlog of unemployment claims submitted to the state due to the pandemic, Sterner said that it is a lengthy process. R4 is eligible for a 50 percent credit from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Support (CARES) Act for disputed claims that are not reimbursed by the state.
“As of August, the credit comes off automatically so that we don’t have to pay in full and wait for the credit. We just end up paying the 50 percent rather than the whole 100 percent, so that has been some small benefit,” said Sterner.
The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund, which is also federal funding through the CARES Act, is allocating $24,567 to R4 for COVID-19-related expenses throughout the school year.
Under the Coronavirus Relief Funds program administered by the State of Connecticut, the allocation for R4 is $193,323. These funds can be applied for expenses related to COVID-19 from March 1 to Dec. 30. They are allocated into different spending categories.
Other costs impacting the R4 budget are related to $26,503 in property damage sustained from Tropical Storm Isaias on Aug. 4. Although most of the costs are covered by R4’s insurance carrier, a $5,000 deductible will need to be covered by VRHS.
The $10,793 in total costs for a grab-n-go program and a recharging station at JWMS as a result of the storm have also been billed back to the towns in a three-way split.
The other action taken by the R4 board in October was approval of $39,360 to cover the costs associated with hiring a paraeducator for a student returning from a private special education program outside of the district.