VIENNA — Members of the Maries R-1 School Board received a copy of the preliminary budget for the 2023-24 school year to look over before a vote at the June meeting.

At the May 23 board meeting, Superintendent Teresa Messersmith provided an overview of the district’s funding. It has four funds: general, teachers, debt service and capital outlay. The general fund covers common operations costs, the teachers fund covers teachers’ salaries, the debt service fund covers the district’s debts and the capital outlay covers equipment and project costs that exceed more than $1,000.

Other figures that Messersmith shared included the expected revenues and expenditures for each fund. The district will receive $3,095,436.79 for the general fund. Estimated expenditures include $2,109,372.04 from the general fund, which gives an ending balance of a little more than $986,000.

Messersmith said the district will not save that much money because the general fund and the teachers fund are connected, and every year the district has to transfer money from the general fund to the teachers fund. The revenue going toward the teachers fund totals $2,518,681.75, but the district will pay $3,441,623 in salary costs. The district will need to transfer leftover money from the general fund to cover the leftover cost of about $923,000 from the teachers fund. The estimated budget surplus for the year is about $63,000.

“With all the raises we gave and some of the projects we’re doing, that’s pretty good,” Messersmith said.

The estimated ending balance for capital outlay is about negative $24,000, but Messersmith told the board that the district has $169,000 set aside for projects that will cover the difference. Some of the projects the district expects to fund include redoing electrical work at the elementary school and fixing drainage issues in the locker room.

Messersmith told board members that she would be available to answer any questions they had about the proposed budget.

At the meeting, Messersmith also updated the board about revenue and expenses for the district in May.

The district’s Basic Formula Classroom Trust Fund money for the month was $114,249.33. For Proposition C funds, the district received $45,108.63. The district received $20,169 in Transportation revenue.

Messersmith said the district’s $3,584.50 electricity bill was about average for this time of year. The district was right on budget for its spending on propane for the year.

A recent major expense to the district was a $1,700 bill from Gahr’s Truck and Equipment for repairs to bus 15, one of the buses that did not pass inspection earlier this year. Messersmith said it was still having issues, and she planned to send it back to possibly find a solution.

Board vice-president Dave Long asked if the district was dumping money into a vehicle that is beyond repair.

Messersmith said she had asked one of the drivers, but he did not give a suggestion.

Novak asked if there was another bus in the district having issues.

“Bus 14, which they’re the same type of bus,” Messersmith said. “Both of those buses are having some electrical issues”

Bus 14’s issues are not as extensive as bus 15’s issues.

The district paid $29,311.38 to the St. Elizabeth R-IV School District for the tuition of four full-time students and two part-time students who live in the Maries R-1 boundaries but attend St. Elizabeth. The students received a transportation hardship transfer from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The transportation hardship transfer allows students to transfer to neighboring districts if it helps to shorten unusually or unreasonably long rides to school. Maries R-1 will continue to collect average daily attendance funds for the students.

Maries R-1 exceeded the $750,000 threshold in the federal funds it expended, so it will need a federal audit this year. On June 19, there will be a pre-audit visit before the audit in August.