The South East Cornerstone Public School Division has just completed one of its busiest academic, administration and capital investment years ever and the results were evident with the filing of information that is contained in this year’s annual report.
The report was approved unanimously during the public school division’s annual general meeting held in the board office in Weyburn on Jan. 15.
Trying to explain the intricacies of a surplus of $7.9 million in the midst of a $58 million refurbishment and addition to the Weyburn Composite School and other major capital projects, is a difficult one for the public to digest, but Shelley Toth, chief financial officer laid the facts out in an explainable format that allowed the trustees and public to follow the financial, construction and operating trends of the past fiscal year.
The division, she noted, had revenues of $108.9 million and expenses of just under $101 million, but the surplus is required since the WCS project is far from complete and may not reach the finish line until early 2016, said facilities manager Andy Dobson, who also spoke to the trustees during their regular board meeting that followed the AGM.
“The surplus includes capital grants of $10.5 million but the costs of the WCS capital project are not incorporated into expenses until the building is completed, at which point it will be amortized into expenses over the useful life of 50 years as per provincial tangible capital asset policies,” said Toth.
She added that conversion to a cash statement, which factors in actual cost paid for items purchased or under construction versus the amortization cost of those items over their useful life, results in an actual operating cash deficit of $76,000.
Provincial grants and property taxation continue to be the major sources of revenue for Cornerstone, as they are for practically all public and separate school divisions in the province. About 48 per cent of the revenue comes from property taxes and 46 per cent comes from provincial grants that is broken down into 37 per cent for operating and nine per cent for capital projects.
Total revenues for the 2013-14 operating year were $237,000 lower than what was budgeted, said Toth who then explained where the variances occurred.
She began by noting that property taxation revenues were $538,000 lower than expectations in the budget as outlined by the provincial ministry, which now controls the collection of property taxes on behalf of school divisions across the province.
On the other hand, the operating grant was $1.08 million higher than the budgeted amount. This was due to adjustments made after the grant was made that were necessary to cover loan payments for the Oxbow school project as well as costs associated with the provincial collective bargaining agreement.
Capital grant revenue was $1.57 million under budget. She noted that funds were budgeted but not received from partnership agencies involved in the Weyburn rebuilding project since it had not progressed at the expected rate during the past fiscal year.
Tuition and related fees were up $265,000 in the past year, thanks to increased enrolments of non-resident students.
Funds generated within the schools themselves was $186,000 more than budgeted, thanks to commercial sales and fundraising activities in the schools. Complementary services revenue was also $178,000 in excess of budget.
External services revenue was $54,000 under budget due to the capital renovations at WCS which affected the income of their cafeteria services.
The sale of a financial web portal to another school division, helped Cornerstone realize $216,000 in over-budget revenue too. That category also included insurance proceeds from a bus that had to be written off and unexpected donations.
Toth noted that salaries and benefits gobble up nearly 72 per cent of the total Cornerstone budget, but they were 1.9 per cent lower than the budgeted amount.
Plant operations were under budget by $348,000 thanks to lower caretaking and maintenance supplies and lower utility costs.
On the other hand, tuition and related expenses were $268,000 over budget.
Interest and other bank charges exceeded budget by more than $308,000, Toth said, and that was due to the fact the financing for the Oxbow School was not approved by the Ministry at the time the previous budget was prepared and therefore the interest expenses were not included in the budget. Amortization expense was $331,000 lower than the budgeted amount due to fewer capital projects being undertaken and completed than what was anticipated.
The division added nearly $21 million in tangible assets in the previous fiscal year, which included $16.2 million for buildings and work-in-progress as well as the addition of nearly $1 million in the form of new school buses, five other fleet vehicles and nearly $3 million in computer hardware and audio/visual equipment and nearly $600,000 for furniture and equipment.
