Barlow Ends 2011-2012 With $320K Surplus

finished the 2011-2012 school year with a $320,000 surplus, Region 9 Board of Education Vice Chairman Mark Lewis told Patch Wednesday. 

The school board met Tuesday night for its final regular meeting of the summer.

Lewis said the surplus was a result of $253,000 in savings from the operational budget—outside special education tuition, legal fees, plowing and utilities. The additional $67,000 was saved through debt refinancing.

The school board accepted Director of Finance Peggy Sullivan’s recommendation that $104,000 of the surplus be allocated to the district’s health reserve (which currently has an approximate balance of $515,000) and $216,000 be put into the capital reserve account (which currently has a balance near $211,000), Lewis said.

Five-year capital plan

Joel Barlow’s five-year capital plan—totaling $6,685,991—was also approved by the school board at Tuesday’s meeting.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Interested in Weston, Redding and Easton's news, events, community bulletins, blogs and businesses? Sign up for the free Weston-Redding-Easton Patch daily newsletter, "like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

________________________________________________________________________________________

The plan, which is attached to this article in .pdf form, calls for the following:

• 2011-2012: $50,000 in expenditures for consulting fees;
• 2012-2013: $128,000 in expenditures for a building management system upgrade and replacement of the floor in the media center, among other things;
• 2013-2014: $5,652,000 in expenditures for a roof replacement ($4.4 million), upgrading of the school’s security system and upgrades to the stadium, among other things;
• 2014-2015: $855,991 in expenditures primarily for leveling and drainage of two fields;
• 2015-2016: There’s currently no money slated for the final year of the plan, though the district would like to spend money on a large track storage shed on field one.

The school board is scheduled to meet next on September 13.