By Lucky Kidd
McPHERSON, Kan. — No members of the public spoke at McPherson USD 418’s Revenue Neutral Rate or Budget hearings Monday night, following which the Board of Education adopted the resolution to set a property tax levy that would raise more property tax dollars for the 2024-24 school year than for the 2023-24 school year.
The adopted just over $14 million budget calls for a mill levy hike of just over a half mill, raising an additional $79,049 that is going to salary increases for teachers, and the 52.971 mill levy exceeds the Revenue Neutral Rate by 1.229 mills. Most of the levy hike is for the supplemental general or local option budget.
Superintendent Shiloh Vincent noted the three components that go into the three funds subject to Revenue Neutral Rate were levies approved by voters, including the local option and capital outlay levies and bond payments.
The Board was presented the 2023-24 audit report from Loyd Group during Monday’s meeting. The audit has an unmodified, or clean opinion as to the regulatory basis of accounting used by nearly every governmental entity in Kansas, but an adverse opinion as to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, as the Kansas Municipal Audit and Accounting Guide doesn’t recognize certain items that would be in a GAAP (gap) audit.
In a management letter to the board, it was noted three of the elementary schools still had outstanding checks more than two years old at the end of the fiscal year June 30, though McPherson High School has cleared their old checks. There were a couple of other minor items identified in that letter.
The Board authorized publication of a request for proposals to complete outfitting of classrooms in the district with smart boards Through a combination of the normal budget process and PTO fundraisers USD 418 has installed 93 Newline interactive smart boards in classrooms.
During the meeting the board also approved an out-of-state travel request from the McPherson High School FFA Chapter to attend National FFA Convention, discussed the strategic planning process, approved classified, administrative and other salary increases, and accepted a number of donations including a $3,000 donation from CHS to the MCKIDS program in support of a second annual McPherson County Baby Shower to promote safe sleeping practices.
