The overall proposed budget for the School District of Mystery Lake (SDML) is rising slightly for the 2022-23 school year, but the amount funded by Thompson property taxes will remain the same.
The tentative budget was presented to the public by SDML secretary-treasurer Kelly Knott via Zoom and on Facebook Feb. 24.
Because the provincial government has directed all school divisions not to increase their property tax requests, SDML will have to use more of its expected surplus at the end of this school year to cover the difference between next year’s announced funding and their expected expenditures.
The amount of funding announced for the district earlier this month will likely be reduced once in-year adjustments are made based on actually enrolment on Sept. 30, 2022.
The overall projected budget for next school year is $45,141,275, while expected revenues are $44,778,937.
About $36.7 million of revenue comes from the provincial government, while property taxes will bring in $7,560,937. $362,338 will be taken from the surplus at the end of June to make up the difference.
Knott hasn’t yet calculated the mill rate that will be needed to raise the required amount of money because property values were assessed in 2021 and the percentage increase or decrease in the value of taxable properties will affect the rate needed.
SDML has benefitted from the province maintaining some grants it was planning to phase out and funding the district for a greater number of students than its actual enrolment, but it still faces cost pressures from rising heating and fuel bills, cost of living adjustments, contracted salary increases and general inflation. The district has scaled back the amount of asphalting of parking and entrance areas planned for Thompson schools this year because the cost of asphalting has “skyrocketed.”
The expected surplus at the end of June 2023 is only about two per cent of the overall budget or $892,000. The surplus is used to cover differences between spending and revenue in the following year as well as for unexpected expenses, like recent emergency roof repairs needed at one of the district’s elementary schools, which cost $165,000.
“$892,000 is not a lot of money when we’re dealing with teacher payroll that is over $2 million every month,” Knott said. “It’s a scary place to be. But we are in a lot better shape than many other school divisions that we are still able to provide a balanced budget.”
SDML has the second highest percentage of provincial funding in the province at 81.8 per cent so directives not to raise property taxes don’t affect it as much as other schools districts that receive a greater proportion of their revenue from local taxes.
There may also be challenges in the future, as the province is planning to introduce a new school funding model next year and the move to provincewide teacher bargaining could make it difficult for SDML, which has the highest minimum and maximum salaries for class 5 teachers of any of Manitoba’s 38 school divisions, to entice teachers north. It is already a struggle to attract teachers for specialized positions such as French and Cree language instruction.
“As we move into provincial collective bargaining, how are we going to be able to recruit?” Knott said near the end fo the budget presentation. “What is our incentive or leg up to bring people north?”
The budget presentation is on the SDML website and can also be viewed on YouTube.
SDML trustees will vote on the budget at their March 8 meeting.
