In an unusually short meeting Tuesday, July 12, the Sedona-Oak Creek School District Governing Board unanimously adopted the school district’s final 2016-17 budget, renewed its five-year food service contract and approved a new director of technology.

Near the end of the meeting, which began at 4 p.m., board President Zach Richardson observed that “we’re going to get out of here by five o’clock” and joked, “That’s a world record.”

Bobbie Surber was the only board member not in attendance, either in person or by phone. She said earlier in the day she had a prior commitment.

The district’s new finance director Lynn Leonard, who delayed leaving on a family vacation in order to give a brief overview of the spending plan and be available to answer questions, noted that the final budget did not change in the three weeks since the board approved the proposed version of the plan.

Leonard made her presentation during a public hearing on the budget. No members of the public spoke at the hearing. The board then reconvened its regular meeting and voted to approve the spending plan.

The maintenance and operations budget is $7.34 million, about 1.7 percent less than the 2015-16 budget.

The board’s approval also included a capital budget of $959,577, a significant increase over last year. The difference, according to Leonard, is that the district’s average daily membership — the primary factor in budget calculations — turned out to be about 1,046, dropping the district below 1,100, which triggers a change in a legislative-mandated reduction from 83 percent to 30 percent.

The “carryforward” amount of the budget also increased — to $492,382 — due mostly to funds from the recent voter-passed Proposition 123, which brought $249,482 to the district.

Unlike some districts in the state, according to Superintendent Dave Lykins, SOCSD earmarked its Prop 123 funds for salary increases.

Salaries and benefits account for most of the M&O budget at $5.57 million — about 6.2 percent higher than the last budget. Nearly all of that increase is due to the school district bringing student transportation in-house rather than contracting out. Salaries and benefits for bus drivers, mechanics and the transportation director were added to the budget, but the school district will save money because it will pay less overall than it did under its contract.

Salaries and benefits for teachers in regular education are about $2.72 million, up from $2.65 million. For special education, it rose from $510,000 to $516,307.

Generally, line items in the new budget were relatively equal to the prior year.

The school district presents the budget to the Governing Board, which is not consulted during the budgeting process, Surber said after the proposed budget was approved June 21. She explained that public school funding is far more restrictive — including predetermined limits — than other public bodies such as city councils.

In other action, the board approved a food services contract with SFE [formerly Southwest Foodservice Excellence].

It is the third consecutive five-year contract between SOCSD and SFE.

The district sent solicitations to nine food service companies, but only SFE submitted a complete proposal.  

According to a document included with the board’s agenda packet, SFE expects total annual revenue of $373,570, which includes food sales and federal reimbursement.

However, annual expenses — including food and labor costs, as well as management and administrative fees — are projected to exceed revenues by as much as $41,184.

Neither Lykins nor board member Karen McClelland were able to immediately respond to explain why SFE would take on a money-losing project.

The document also called for: Monthly meetings to determine if interim adjustments to the contract are needed; improvements to the collection process for paid meals; exploration of potential

increases in paid lunch prices; and the possibility of bringing food service in house.

“We will continue to investigate all options,” Lykins told the board.

Also at the meeting, the board approved John Parks as director of technology, which is a half-time position. He is relinquishing half of his job as registrar and is training other staffers to fill out the position.

As director of technology he will be paid $33,000; for his registrar duties it will be $14,000, according to Surber.

Parks also stepped down as athletic director for Sedona Red Rock High School — an extra-duty position paid via stipend. Lykins said the job was posted earlier in the day.