Sangamon Sun

Ball-Chatham Community Unified School District 5 Finance Committee met April 16

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Finance Committee Board member Ryan Murphy was present; Board President Tiffani Saunders; Superintendent Becca Lamon; CSBO Charlotte Montgomery; CSBO replacement Wendy Dulakis; and Chad Martel, Director of Food Service.

Chad Martel explained that the annually required USDA's Paid Lunch Equity (PLE) tool showed that the District is not in compliance with this federal regulation intended to ensure federal monies received are not used to supplement paid student lunches.

NSLP Paid Lunch Equity (PLE) rules, require schools to do one of the following:

• File for an exemption. We have been using the exemption option due to us having a carryover/surplus in the recent prior school years. However the District is far below the compliance amount of $3.79 and the District runs the risk of the waiver being denied. In the worse- case scenario USDA could make the District pay a fine or pay back funds.

• Automatically raise prices annually. Working toward getting to the USDA's ever changing Target Rate. Raising $0.10 per year is a required amount to work towards Target Rate. Utilizing this method would take over five years

• Calculate new prices using the PLE tool. PLE tool release date varies from year to year. Calculations would be based on our meal counts, current prices, and what we need to do to work towards getting to the Target Rate. The PLE worksheet may end up with higher price increase recommendations than what is being proposed.

• Food Service Profit/Loss was presented for FY2010- FY2023. Total deficit for FY2010- FY2017 was $1,595,768. In 2018 a full time Director of Food Service was hired. Profit from FY2018-FY2023 was $878,417, in large part due to an increase in the federal reimbursement rate for FY2022.

Mr. Martel recommended the District adopt Option 1, see attached. This option will result in an increase of $5 per month per student. A discussion followed and Board members present accept the recommendation.

Other student fees were discussed:

Registration fees were last increased in 2014 from $125 to $130 for K-4 and $150 to $155 for 5-12. Ten years without an increase when AFR's report a 39.4% increase in Fund 10 expenditures FY2014 of $31,807,356 to FY2023 of $44,331,056. It is important to note that although the District's registration is slightly higher than area schools, the District does not charge for lab fees that are charged at area schools in addition to their registration fee. Those labs include home economics, chemistry, art, industrial tech, just to mention a few.

When this is taken into consideration, some area schools will run higher that Ball Chatham.

Technology fees were established in 2019 from $25 to $40. Technology costs continue to rise and the budget will need an annual increase of$160,000 to maintain the current level of effectiveness. An increase of$35 to $75 will fund approximately 75% of this annual $160,000 increase, and brings the District in line with Rochester's $75 tech fee.

Athletic fees were last increased in 2013 from $75 first sport to $100. In 2014 second sport was increased from $125 to $150 and max for family increased from $275 to $300. Ten years without an increase when AFR's report a 55.3% increase in Athletic expenditures in FY2014 of$662,129 to FY2023 of $1,028,459.

Driver's Education fee was established in 2013 at $250; however, this fee cannot be increased in keeping with Section 2-3.25g of the school code and 105 ILCS 5/27-24.2.

Parking fees were last increased in 2014 from $50 to $60. Note that District 186 charges their students $75; Rochester $50; New Berlin $30; each school reviewed charged a fee to park.

Duel credit fee increased from $25 per class in 2012 to $50 in 2013. In 2019 this fee was eliminated in an effort to provide equity and inclusion for underserved population.

Ms. Montgomery noted that the property tax levy alone will never cover all costs associated with Fund 10, and other sources of revenue are necessary to fund operations. Revenues for fees discussed was presented, see attached. In FY23 collectively these fees brought in $891,970.

A discussion followed and the recommendation is to increase the technology fee to $75 and wait to address the other fees charged by the District.

As reported to the Finance Committee in March, Rise Broadband will place new equipment on the Tower, in addition to what is currently there. They will absorb all costs associated with the installation, as outlined in the current lease agreement. They have agreed to pay an additional amount in addition to their current lease. They have proposed: $600/year to add (1) Microwave with appurtenances/cables at 65'; $600/year to add (1) Microwave with appurtenances/cables at 120'; $300/year to add (1) antenna with appurtenances/cables at 190'.

Total of $1,500/year ($125 per month) increase for the addition of355 feet.

 The original lease was $1,560 per month (or $2.06 per foot) for three years, expiring April 2020, with the option to renew the lease for an additional two terms. We assumed the lease in April 2023 and negotiated the new lease of$1,920.67 (or $2.54 per foot) using the lease language on how the renewal lease should be calculated. Daniel Hamilton of Brown, Hay, and Stephens calculated the amount, and Rise signed the renewal lease. To determine if their proposal is fair we have reached out to others in the field, and pricing is determined by the feet of cable.

$1,920.67 plus the $125 is $2,045.67 or $1.84 per foot devalues the current pricing, provided no feet were removed when installing the new equipment. We are on hold until we obtain additional information.

https://go.boarddocs.com/il/cusd5/Board.nsf/Public