The Mansfield City Schools Financial Planning and Supervision Commission includes Chairman Paul Marshall, Jill Haring, Sharon Hanrahan and Mark Brunn.
Mansfield City Schools’ fiscal posture is improving, a member of the auditor of state’s office confirmed to the district’s Financial Planning and Supervision Commission Tuesday.
While the commission already was aware of improvement, Chairman Paul Marshall said it was good to hear the report from a state auditor.
“Revenues are up, expenditures are down. Overall, it’s much better news this year,” said Laura Brown, a project manager in the auditor’s local government services office at Canton.
She gave the same report to the board of education earlier.
Brown said the 23-page financial forecast that she summarized to the commission is required annually by law when a school district is in fiscal emergency. The auditor of state placed Mansfield in fiscal emergency in November 2013 and the four-member commission began overseeing district financial matters on Jan. 2, 2014.
Brown estimates that the district will have a general fund balance of $5.5 million when its fiscal year ends on June 30. The positive balance, she said, results from increases in property tax collections and state foundation money and a decrease in district expenditures.
Voters approved a new emergency levy in November 2013, but only half of the tax revenue it generated applied to the 2014 fiscal year, Brown said. A full year of revenue from that levy will help increase property tax revenue by $1,371,000 in fiscal year 2015 over the previous year.
Expense reductions resulted largely from the closing of Newman Elementary School and the layoffs of teachers and support staff.
While the financial news is good, Marshall said, the district and the commission must continue to work together to secure and maintain solid financial footing.
“Actual spending is down,” said Marshall, who noted that total expenditures include continued repayment of $3,685,000 from the state’s School District Solvency Assistance Fund. That amount offset the deficit that forced the district into fiscal emergency.
Mansfield began repaying the solvency fund by having its state foundation money reduced by $158,541 each month starting last July. That repayment schedule will continue through June 2016.
Marshall, a financial consultant with the Ohio Department of Education, was appointed to chair the commission by Dr. Richard Ross, state superintendent of public instruction. Other commission members include Sharon Hanrahan of the Ohio Office of Budget Management and Mansfield residents Mark Brunn and Jill Haring. Brunn was appointed by Mayor Tim Theaker, Haring by Ross.
The commission’s first responsibility was to develop a financial recovery plan for the district, which the Ohio Department of Education approved on May 2. That plan, developed in collaboration with the board of education and district administrators, included the closing of Newman and staff reductions.
The commission, which will remain in place until the state auditor releases Mansfield from fiscal emergency, meets monthly at the Raemelton administration building. Its next meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. on May 26.