PAS adopts $14 million budget for fiscal year 2021


Pipestone Area Schools (PAS) Board members during their June 22 meeting approved a fiscal year 2021 general fund budget of $14,090,157 with a projected deficit of $81,025. The fiscal year began July 1.

Of the $14,090,157 in projected general fund expenditures, about 66 percent ($9,289,308) is for salaries and benefits. Another 8 percent ($1,141,612) is for transportation, and the remaining roughly 26 percent is for services, supplies and other expenses related to school operations.

General fund revenue is projected at $14,009,132. Of that, about 72 percent ($10,063,520) is general education aid. The rest of the revenue is projected to come from other forms of aid ($1,695,861), levies ($1,601,002), and other local and federal sources ($648,749).

Projected general fund expenditures are $16,941 less than projected in the 2020 budget and the projected revenue is $81,948 less than projected in the 2020 budget.

The $81,025 deficit projected for 2021 is higher than 2020’s projected deficit of $16,018, but lower than years past when the general fund budgets projected deficits in the hundreds of thousands. Historically, however, those deficits did not come to fruition due to what the school district has termed a conservative approach to budgeting. In fiscal year 2019, for example, the school district projected a general fund deficit of $893,042 and the actual audited result was a surplus of $50,064.

The school district has several other funds in addition to the general fund. The budgets for those are as follows:

•The building construction fund has a balance of $24,421,896 and projected expenditures of $19,244,970, which would leave a fund balance of $5,176,926. That fund was established for the construction of the new elementary school.

•The debt service fund has projected expenditures of $1,835,730 and projected revenue of $1,870,227, leaving a surplus of $34,497. Those funds are levied to pay off the bond for the new school.

•The food service fund is projected to have expenditures of $1,044,500 and revenue of $927,900, leaving a deficit of $116,600 and a fund balance of $215,183. The projected deficit is the result of $150,000 budgeted for equipment, which is $120,000 more than was budgeted for fiscal year 2020. Superintendent Kevin Enerson said that is for equipment for the new kitchen area that will serve the existing middle and high school and the new elementary school.

•The community education fund has projected expenditures of $249,088 and projected revenue of $256,032, leaving a surplus of $6,944 and a fund balance of $203,725.

•The learning readiness fund has projected expenditures of $200,369 and projected revenue of $140,512, leaving a deficit of $59,857 and a fund balance deficit of $21,219.

•The early childhood family education fund has projected expenditures of $19,683 and projected revenue of $55,242, leaving a $35,559 surplus and a fund balance of $173,242.66.