Border Land School Division (BLSD) will be working with a smaller budget in 2019/20. The board of trustees is proposing overall operating expenses of $35.3 million, down nearly $52,000 from the current year.  

At a series of public consultation meetings in Altona and Vita this week, Secretary Treasurer Rachel Geirnart explained that heading into budget deliberations the division was faced with several cuts to funding including nearly $33,000 in provincial support.

According to Manitoba Education, the reduced funding is due to a change in the Formula Guarantee for the school division.

As Geirnart explained, increased enrolment in the division translated into a reduction of $768,000 from the Formula Guarantee. However, these added student numbers mean more base and equalization funding, ultimately cutting the shortfall down to $348,000. 

Changes were also made to the General Support Grant resulting in a further decrease in support of $29,000.

Additionally, all school divisions have been directed by the province to limit the increase to the Special Requirement to 2%. This is equivalent to an increase in funding of $344,600.

Once the numbers have been crunched, all of this still comes up short by $32,800. 

In addition, BLSD anticipates a decrease in other school division and First Nation funding. 

"It's very hard to know or anticipate what the enrolment will be for 2019/20 so we'd rather base our numbers on past (figures)," noted Geirnart.

Unfortunately, she said it'll be up to the ratepayers to make-up this shortfall. 

As a result, BLSD is looking to increase the Special Requirement by the maximum 2%. On a home valued at $200,000 that equates to an education tax increase of $31 dollars. On 80 acres of farmland valued at $383,000 that adds up to a $34 dollar bump.

Geirnart admitted it was a struggle to find budget savings that would have the least impact on students. 

Despite a provincially-mandated salary freeze for teachers, she said BLSD is still on the hook for merit increases totalling $250,000. In fact, salaries and benefits are anticipated to account for 78.4% ($27.7 million) of the division's 2019/20 budget. With that in mind, Geirnart noted the division was able to make cuts in other areas in order to keep spending down. 

"Unfortunately capital projects have taken a hit (and) staffing is another one of those areas that we have tightened up a bit."

BLSD has budgeted $448,248 for capital projects in 2019/20, down from $428,586 in 2018/19. With the average age of division-owned buildings at 50 years old, Geirnart said upgrades and large maintenance projects are starting to come up every year. That list includes land improvements like drainage, sidewalks and bus lanes; building upgrades such as flooring, windows and accessibility improvements, equipment and other fixtures. 

Making up 9.78% of the proposed budget is Services and Utilities; Supplies, Materials and Minor Equipment equates to 8.95%; and Payroll Tax, Vocational Programming and School of Choice rings in at 2.87%.

Now that the public has had a chance to comment on the proposed figures, Geirnart will bring the budget back to the board of trustees for approval in March before finally sending it off to Manitoba Education for final approval in April.