The New Westminster school district plans to hire a consultant to uncover the causes of a $2.8-million surprise deficit and to develop a plan to recover the hefty shortfall.
Board of education chair James Janzen provided the information at Tuesday night's board of education meeting, updating some of the immediate measures to address the budget shortfall, including the plan to pay for a consultant.
"We wanted people to know what we are doing," Janzen said, explaining why he provided the one-page handout at the meeting.
The board had passed what it thought was a balanced budget last spring, including an extra $521,000 to pay off a previous deficit. By law, school districts have to present balanced budget to the Ministry of Education.
This isn't the first time the district has brought in a consultant to review its books. In 2008/09, when the district was dealing with a more than $3 million deficit, David Yuen, a former Vancouver school district secretary treasurer, was brought in and paid $40,000 for his services. At the time, Doug Wong was the secretary treasurer. Wong's contract was not renewed after that year.
"He (Yuen) was brought in to figure out what was structural and what wasn't structural," Janzen said.
Rob Peregoodoff, chair of the district parent advisory council, told The Record recently that the board of education should first refer to the work of past consultants, specifically a report on the district's financial management from the 2000/01 school year - when the district had a $1.4-million deficit - before doling out more money for another review.
But Janzen said they couldn't pull from previous consultants' determinations to figure out the current issues.
"Every year is different and things change," he said. "You really have to look ? continued from page 1 at every year.
"Times change, things are different," he said. "What might have been a problem three years ago, might not be a problem now."
The board has set a budget of $15,000 to pay for the consultant, though Janzen said that isn't a firm figure.
"We haven't signed any contracts yet," he said.
As for its plans to deal with the deficit in the short-term, the district is also banning overtime, reviewing job postings, extra staffing and job extensions for temporary job assignments.
Moving forward for this year, the district is reviewing the 2012/13 budget to identify any structural budget issues that need to be considered as a part of the deficit recovery plan that is being developed, Janzen's report said.
The district is confirming the Ministry of Education's operating grant based on the actual Sept. 30 enrolment. It is confirming other budgeted revenue amounts, including international education, confirming salaries and staffing levels, benefits and reviewing staff replacement costs, based on recent trends.
