BSD trustees get look at preliminary budget

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This article was published 04/02/2016 (3787 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon School Division trustees got their first look at the document that will frame the debate leading up to the creation of the division’s 2016-17 budget.

At a special board meeting Wednesday evening, BSD secretary-treasurer Denis Labossiere walked trustees through the 36-page preliminary operating budget for 2016-17, which summarizes a list of budget requests and forecasts the tax ramifications that will be discussed in detail in two weeks.

This year’s preliminary budget includes a total of 25 requests from trustees and administration, totalling $3.6 million in additional spending that will be considered by the board. Proposals include funding for full-day, everyday kindergarten programming at King George and Valleyview Centennial schools, additional after-school programming, new routes, monitors and video surveillance for school district buses and a variety of new staffing positions.

Regardless of the decisions made, the education property tax will likely be going up next year.

Without any of the requests being met, the BSD is looking at a $97.9-million total budget, about a 4.4 per cent increase over last year. For a home assessed at $251,325, that would mean a minimum annual tax increase of $57.47 (3.6 per cent).

On top of that, for each $1 million in approved budget requests, the tax increase would climb by slightly more than one per cent. If $3 million in budget requests were approved by the board, annual taxes would rise by $106.74 (6.8 per cent).

The 2015-16 budget included $1,806,600 in additions to the budget.

Last year, the budget trustees ratified came with a tax increase of only 12 cents a year for a house assessed at $222,000, largely because of 11 positions cut by the board the previous year.

Trustees have more money coming from the province than last year. In early January, Education and Advanced Learning Minister James Allum announced a provincial funding increase of $2.4 million for the BSD, slightly less than double what was received last year. About 60 per cent of the division’s budget comes from the province.

Most of the remaining revenue is raised from municipalities during the division’s fiscal year. The budget decisions made in the next month will impact the 2017 special levy — which is raised from local taxpayers.

The document shows 8,562 students are currently enrolled in the BSD. That number is predicted to grow by 1.6 per cent by Sept. 30, 2016.

A public consultation is set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 10, in the Meadows School gym. There, trustees will accept input on the budget from the public via a town hall-style meeting.

On Feb. 16, trustees will gather for an all-day budget meeting at the school division office on Sixth Street, where all budget requests will be debated. The public can make presentations on the budget at a special board meeting set for 7 p.m. on Feb. 29. The budget is expected to be approved on March 7.

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