001Thank you, Dr. Rainey. I'd like to call the meeting to order for September 8, 2025 board meeting of the Huntington County Community School Board of Trustees. And item A3, call to order. Mrs. Gray, >> Mr. Allen, >> here. >> Mr. Mr. Mlullen >> here. >> Mr. Meltchure >> here. >> Mr. Wall >> here. >> Mrs. Heim here. Mr. Carl >> here. >> Mrs. Miller >> here. >> Thank you, Mrs. Gray. Move on to A5, revision of the agenda. Mr. Trout, do we have any revisions today? >> No revisions this evening, Mr. Allen. >> Thank you, Mr. Trout. On to item B1, public comment from visitors. I don't have anyone signed up to speak this morning, but if anyone would like to address the board, um, please come up and, uh, state your name and I'd
002probably have you sign this as well. No one coming forward. We'll move on to C1 2026 budget workshop. Mrs. Smith Good evening. My favorite part, budgets. You guys know how I love the numbers and love budgets along with Mr. Wall, of course. This evening we bring to you the 2026 budget workshop and Oops. Maybe is it delayed? Oops. Did you do that? Okay. Um, of course, our agenda for this evening is to always make sure that we're um, you know, looking at our objectives, our goals, our uh, school's mission and those type of things. We look um, at the budget calendar. uh we're doing the major budgeted funds and we'll go through those and talking about all the gathering of the data and then review comparisons and then um tonight is the first of three
003major steps that's required for the budget. The first one of course is to hold this budget workshop and then later for action item ask for permission to advertise um what's called a form three notice to taxpayers the bus replacement plan and the capital projects plan. Um that is the first step. The second step is um within uh a minimum of 10 days, we can go um longer, hold a public hearing for those budgets that are advertised. And then last but not least, the third step is the adoption of the budget. So you'll see those over these next three uh board meetings for the public and the board. And then of course our goal is to make sure that we are uh maintaining our expenditures within our revenue streams um provided um unless directed otherwise from
004the board and of course focusing our programs and services for student achievement by providing competitive compensation packages to obtain and retain employees. So we start out the budget process. We receive information. You'll see it on the screen. There is a budget calendar that we receive from the department of local government finance who all of our budget information goes through and they give us the the deadlines of all the state statutes of each one of those three steps that we just um seen and what their maximum deadline date is. and we work backwards from that and look at your board um workshops, your board calendar, all your board meetings and then we place that um in line with before the due dates and then that's this is what you'll see and the board approved this I
005think it was in June um for these major steps and you'll see the three major steps highlighted there um this evenings and then the next two board meetings for the public hearing and the adoption of the budget and then by the end of the year the department of local of finance DLGF um certifies the budgets for the next calendar year. So these are calendar year budgets January through December. We start with that process. You'll see February and then the real meat and potatoes come um starting in May, June, July and August and then we go from there and um adhere to all the statute deadlines and dates. So with the school corporation we um utilize of course public funds. We are a cash basis accounting. So just like you think of at home, money in,
006money out. So you have your revenue and your expenditures. That's what we call a cash basis. There's no cruel accounting or any of that for the majority of the school districts in Indiana. Any of the school districts are over 15,000 students. They are now required to have a cruel accounting, but there's only handful um throughout the state. The rest of us are all on cash basis accounting. We have um what we call fund accounting. So we have major budgeted funds that we do through the DLGF. There are other funds that we have throughout the district such as grants and um from the federal, state, and local levels also including um food service and um any kind of referendums that schools may have. We do not have that here, but other school districts do. And then
007of course the budgets that have to go through the DGF. So here are the major budgeted funds that have to go through the DLGF. You'll see um the education fund which was new in 2019 that um was developed from the old general fund and um then we also have the new operations fund that was also um created in 2019. that is a partial of the old general fund, two categories of the four that used to be in general fund and then also um the old capital projects fund and transportation operating and bus replacement funds. All those were rolled into the new operations fund. And then other districts have um miscellaneous funds such of course debt service, debt service uh that we handle all of our larger uh projects and things like that where we sell
008bonds and leases to finance those. And then a lot of districts now do have a rainy day we do here. And then other districts that might have um referendums, an operating referendum, capital referendums and safety referendums. And then where does um all of our revenue come from? We have two main pots of revenue that we receive in schools. One is based on student enrollment. It's our um state tuition aka basic grant. There's all different kinds of words that um names that people use it um for and that is from our enrollment which um comes from our average daily membership count. So that is our main revenue that comes in our education fund. All of it's aimed towards straight toward education. And then our other funds have local property taxes and other miscellaneous taxes that come
009from um the revenues that we receive from the local property taxes and then expenditures that are allowed. When you think of the education fund, you think of what does it take to educate that directly that child. So in the schools, all the employees in each one of the schools all come out of the education fund. the other funds, operations. When you think of the overall arching operations of a district such as the superintendent's office, the business office, um technology, transportation, all those different departments come out of the operations fund. And of course, we already talked about the debt service and then referendums if if anyone had any referendums for that. And then all this starts, like we said, in this late spring, early summer. And um there's a lot of ma major stakeholder input from
010all the different departments um around the district including of course business services, transportation, human resources, operations, the teachers. You know, we have to think of um negotiations of what we might have already committed for um negotiations, principal input, you know, board input, all the directors of um education and secondary, all those different departments um have input in uh the major parts of the budget. And then when we're gathering this data, this is the things that we have to look at is we look at that enrollment. Remember I talked about enrollment for the average daily membership. So what we do is we look at the trends and we see how we're doing and what we've done in the past and then what we might project for the future. So for um there's two enrollment counts. There's
011two ADM counts that um constitute our funding for each of the six months of the calendar year of the fiscal year actually. um the fall enrollment which is done on October 1st and then you'll see the trends here the actuals uh from 2017 on and then just estimating basically a flat um enrollment or ADM for this year and then we also have the spring enrollment which is um they call it spring but it's February 1st so I don't know about that I think they're a little off on you know mother nature when spring actually happens but that's what they call it spring ADM and you'll also see see those numbers the historical trends for um our enrollment trends here at Huntington. And then next you'll see um the basic grant, the tuition support. When we
012get those numbers, we have um a simulation inside the Department of Education that we can go and put our numbers in. So if we knew we were growing exponentially or decreasing, we can play with those numbers to see what that expected revenue or anticipated revenue would be in our education fund. and we build the budget um upon that. So here you'll see um the historical uh tax rate history for um since 2019. So you'll see our tax rate here for Huntington and um you'll see that uh start to stabilize more in these last couple years and plan to do so in the future. Now, with the new legislative session and all the different criteria, you'll see a lot of um districts trying to level out between the tax rate and the levy. So, it'll be
013a joint um combination now looking at the assessed valuations as they've been going up and then stabilizing and now they went back up again and you'll see that on the on the next couple slides. And then looking at the actual tax rate. So when you're if you look at that green box there of how you anticipate what your property tax will be, it's your assessed valuation times the tax rate divided by 100 because it's hundreds of thousands. Um and then that's how you figure out what your property tax is. So in the olden days before you had the bad um property tax caps and all those things that affected your um taxes, it was very easy to keep your tax rate stable. Now that the assessed valuation on the next screen um has been jumping
014around, you'll see that there you'll see it was pretty stable. One, four, 5%. That is normal. All of a sudden, we jump up to 15%. Then let's go back down to less than 4%. Oh, let's go back up to 13%. Now, for this year, we just received um a couple weeks ago, it's 10% increase. So when you're doing that, it's hard to figure out to stabilize that for um our community because of that assessed valuation going up. A lot of people in the past would go, "Darn it, these schools, they're they're charging us everything. My property taxes keep on going up." They didn't realize that we were stabilizing the tax rate, but the assessed valuation bouncing around like that is what constitutes an um an influx in their um property taxes that they actually pay.
015So hopefully in the future that will calm down and won't be such a roller coaster and it'll be easier to maintain um regulatory uh taxes for our community, but we're still in that volatile um state there where you see that just jumping back and forth from 2022 to 2026. >> So I was going to ask you a question, but I thought it'd be a perfect time on this particular screen. >> So Senate Bill one, most of that stuff takes effect in 2028. Mhm. >> What is going to be affected by that? It's going to be a cap in our our tax rate, but also is it business business personal property somehow affected in there too? >> Yes, it is. Um those two main funds that it could affect will definitely affect operations fund. And then
016for anyone else with their debt service fund also they're talking about that any kind of revenue sharing that you have to do because of those bills and the tax caps. So that combination will affect our operations funds which we talked about is our main fund for the overall arching operations. That's our bus replacement, our facilities. I'll talk about that in a little bit later of our upgrades and those type of things. So um that unknown because they have not been able to um project what those that impact will be for the districts in Indianapolis, Marian County, there's a couple um in that area of course that started this year. So, we have property tax um different regulations for Marian County that started before the majority of them start in 2028. But until then, that's why
017we'll have to be very careful and very strategic in how we're doing our budgets and our future um projections. >> I I just call out because I know in 2025 we never completely understood where that 13% came from because it was an oddity arrested the states. >> Exactly. >> That a majority of that was the business person property from Tasan and that's why I was specifically asking that. So we may be in the reverse of >> exactly >> when 2028 comes around and they we actually may see a shrinking in that. So >> exactly you could see your assessed valuation really tank instead of increasing >> until they stabilize that over those couple years with all those credits and that that's happening for the personal property, the extra credits that they're doing for the property
018tax caps, all that. Um it's going to be interesting from 2028 on. So we'll see. We'll have another bianium by then. So, we'll, you know, right now we already know, and I'll I'll show you that in a little bit, um, of we don't have a lot of, um, new revenue. A lot of districts are actually going negative. So, it wasn't the original projections that they stated. And when they said, oh, across the average of um, Indiana, it's 2%. That is not correct. Once the numbers are run on that funding formula, that simulation that I talked about, there's a lot of districts that are actually negative. So, we have to watch that and we have to be prepared of what that will mean for our district once those estimates come in from all those property tax.
019They're supposed to have that to us, but >> we know how that is. We don't know the timing for that or um you know what that impact will be yet. >> And I will just mention that that Tasian personal property was a uh specific choice by the city redevelopment commission. They did tiff the the land out there and the the physical buildings, but they made a choice to help pass some of that through when they decided not to tiff the business personal property to help the school corporation and some of those others. So, while it was nice now, then the rules of course get changed on us. So, it just was one of those things where as I learned more about it, it was nice and they did make a specific decision to try to
020help the school corporation out when they did that, but now we're going to get hit by something else. And of course the LIT, remember the LIT, we have that's over, you know, going to be over a $700,000 impact for the district that we're losing out on those taxes. So not every school corporation in Indiana has lit taxes. Um, but you guys do. So that'll be a huge impact for you. So I'm hoping the next bianium that we'll get some increases to maybe offset some of that. If not, then we will be short right off the top $700,000. So then we're going to compare um how the numbers um shook out looking and comparing against the 2025 budget order. So, not the 2025 advertise because of course we always advertise higher because once they shake out
021the numbers, we want to make sure that we've advertised high enough because if for some reason we thought, okay, we're going to go as close to the penny as we can. And then they run the figures and it's lower, I mean higher, then we only get the lowest number. So, that's why we advertise um a little higher so to allow for those variations. So you'll see here um the difference of the local tax the local sources the state sources and of course the other so the of course you see here the biggest part the $41.5 million it's anticipated for that um tuition support that we talked about and um so that just has a slight increase and after we know our ADM then of course that could change you know up or down and once
022that ADM is certified in October like I said hm that's October, but we have to have the budgets done now. So, we get our little crystal balls out and we try to get as close as we can um and then come up with our budgets. So, you'll see here the difference between the two years is about a half a million dollars that we're projecting the difference for 2026 advertised budgets for revenue. And then you'll see our expenditures. Um the same thing here where um in education fund want to bring to light that when you look at that percent of the fund on the right hand side like we indicated education fund is what it takes to directly aim toward educating those students. So you'll see over 90 almost 97% is salaries and benefits in the
023education fund. So if they play with the funding formula anymore, of course, what does that affect? People directly in our classrooms. So we have to be very careful of that and we have to watch. That's why it's very important for these budgets and for us um to look at it as you know a board, superintendent, CFOs, you know, the community so we can educate the community on what that means going forward. Also wanted to bring up I did forget in the the revenue side for the education fund in the funding formula this year when they were talking about that 2%. Now remember before we got our tuition support then we also got curricular materials dispersement. Remember hearing that the last couple years from me. Now we won't have two different mechanisms, two pots of money.
024They moved this pot of money into the funding formula one time. it'll just stay there. We'll never ever get a separate dispersement. So that 2% was camouflaged by them rolling in this extra amount which um I think was you know $700 and some thousand dollars for you guys. So now that's built into the formula. So we won't get another distribution. It's just built in there. So it was kind of like a smoke and mirrors for your supposed 2%. So you ended up less than a half a percent when it comes down to it because those two were added together and you'll no longer get a separate dispersement. So um we'll have to be careful and um with that also with um our curricular materials and that now that it's built in the regular budgets and
025not a separate fund or separate um funding for that. It's just rolled in. So we'll have to build that during the process of the education fund from now on. get with the directors of um curriculum and make sure that they they have built into the budgets what they need for the next adoptions and such. You know, we have adoptions, you know, um every so many years and some are higher than others. So, that'll be a um a strategy to make sure that we're building that into the education budget going forward. So you'll see here um the the comparison between the budgets that we're advertising about a million dollars more almost um the assessed valuation difference there from um 2025 and 2026 and then of course there's no levy in education fund there's no property taxes
026therefore no rate so that's why that's zero. And then next you'll see our debt service fund. So our debt service fund is a property tax needdriven fund. So, whatever we sell for our bonds or leases is what we have to pay out. So, we get the money twice a year. The main times is December um and June. And then we also pay what's called an amorization schedule, just like your mortgage that you pay at home that you get a mortgage for 30 years. And you got a little schedule that tells you, you know, oh, I got to pay, you know, $1,500 um for 30 years. We get the same thing for the debt services for um the bonds and leases. and we make those payments in those same two months, June and December, um, for
027the life of that bond or lease to pay it back. So, all that's built into this debt service fund revenue. So, it's an estimate on what we think um, we need from the rest of the amorization schedules or any future um, borrowing that we might do. Um, here at Huntington, the last couple years, we've been doing um, general obligation bonds. So you know we're in the process of that um for 2025 also. And then next you'll see um the long range debt service schedule. So this is the schedule that I take that I develop from those amorization schedules. So you can see every single bond on there and you can see the payments um for for now until some of them drop off. And as you know, as some drop off, then of course we
028put others in the place so we can continue with our um facilities and our uh any kind of replacements, repairs, all those different types of things and projects that we know that we have to do along the way. Um without having a referendum here, we utilize the t the debt service fund to its full tax rate. We're right underneath the 40 cents. We promised um of course you and the community that we would keep it under that 40 cents so it didn't have to go out for a vote or anything. So that's what we do is we maintain that and as they build our budget then we um actually put that in the paperwork that we will not go above that um you know right underneath the 40 cents. So we make sure that we
029don't go over that and um keep our commitment which um the board has wanted to do over the last several years and especially since that's changed with the with the legislative session on the requirements and the rules for whatever rate you ended up with. So here you'll see the 2025 budget order. You'll see that um the budget and assessed valuation, the levy which um is higher just because we inflated it, you know, for uh the budget uh publications and advertising. But then you'll see there with the rate that we make sure that 399 we make sure it never goes over for um the 40 cents. So what that means when I'm talking about that rate and how we kind of freeze it even if they calculate more than that when I talked about that earlier
030you know usually we'll advertise higher so then it will you know adjust for that but the debt we do not do that so that's why you see that 3999 even if it um calculates higher they will not go over that rate that we um publish so we do that by design. Then you'll see our operations fund which is our other main fund um like our education fund um just on the opposite side. And you'll see here on the 2025 budget order and the 2026 um advertised and um a little over $1.6 million. And this includes that transfer that we do from the education fund to the operations fund. Just a reminder on what that means. So that was when they created in 2019 the new education fund and the new operations fund. those four categories
031that I talked about from the old general fund. When they split those, they moved two of those into the operations fund and two of them stayed and went into the new education fund, but the revenue did not move with those from the old general fund. So, they still have not split that revenue for us. We still get only the revenue in the education fund to support those other two categories that move to the operations fund. So, why they haven't split that, I have no idea. I figured that would only be a couple years and then they would go ahead and do it for us basically. But no, we have to manually um transfer that and we can transfer up to 15%. We average between 135 and 14% here at Huntington. So we're well underneath that
03215% um uh threshold that they they want everybody to stay under. So if you rece you know go over that 15% then you end up on this list and it's public and all this good stuff. But here at Huntington, we don't have to worry about that since our um percentage that we do transfer is lower than that 15%. Will they do it in the future? I don't know. I haven't heard um them talk about it in the last couple years, which I thought was odd. But um until then, there is Indiana code that states that yes, you transfer less than 15% to cover those two categories, and we do that um mainly two times a year um for those funds. So, um, with the operations fund, it has what's called a maximum levy calculation. And
033what that means is we can only receive up to a maximum, um, calculation of the property taxes in this operations fund. So, there is a percentage that they do through the legislative session that tells approximately what that growth potion will be, quotient will be. And, um, for 2026, it's 4%. So you'll see this calculation here of the maximum amount that we will be able to collect for our operations fund. However, remember this operations fund also um is affected by the property tax caps. So this is the maximum but then in December they take away from our distribution the property tax cap portion. So we don't receive the full amount to begin with. So first we have a maximum then that maximum is even reduced when we get our actual distribution of taxes in December. So
034it's kind of like a double whammy. So this is the one if you remember during the legislative session they were trying to say 0% growth and everybody came unglued and we go how can you even do that? It already has a double you know um limitation on it. How can you do no increase whatsoever there? you know, even the 4% doesn't cover, you know, the cost of living increase, but thank goodness that got pulled out of the 11th hour and they went ahead with the 4% and keeping that in a status quo. So hopefully that'll stay, you know, at least that in the future. Of course, you know, CFOs would want it to to go up to go with the cost of living, but definitely not down. So, we'll keep you informed on that. So
035then this is the same um as we did for the education fund where we broke it out between the objects there with salaries and benefits. You'll see the difference here. Remember it was 97% of salaries and benefits and operations. It's you know 43% for salaries and benefits. And then you'll see all the other things that come out of the operations fund. It is you know the bus replacement. It is utilities. All those other overarching things that um to operate the the school district. So you'll see that um for $23 million there. And then next we have um when we were talking about the circuit breaker impact. So this is interesting. So usually we get this report every year. If you notice the one that's circled still says 2025. Why would it say 2025 if we're
036doing a 2026 budget? Well, it still says pending not and did not give us our figure. However, when we go to put it in into the computer, all these numbers go into the DLGF site. Um, and that's where you'll see um an estimate that actually showed up on the form three of $3.3 million impact even though they don't have this estimate report in yet. It still says pending. So, why? We don't know. um which is weird that it went up that high that it shows it on one paperwork but it does not show it on their calculation and still says pending. So that is um the majority of Indiana. Now there are a couple districts where they did do their calculation and have their calculation sheet, but that's like I would say probably 5% of
037Indiana received theirs and everyone else says pending. It still shows pending today. So um we'll see what that will be. um we'll notify the board once we know that number you know closer but um until then we had to use the other estimate. So then you'll see here the comparisons of the budget um between the two years the assessed valuation the property taxes and then the tax rate. So of course when I talked about earlier one you when your AV goes up your tax rate goes down because there's a maximum levy here. So in that formula you'll look back through that little one that had the green around it. That's why the tax rate will go lower on this um because the AV went up. AV went goes up, tax rate goes down because your
038levy will will end up staying right in the middle then because those two numbers added together then is what the maximum um property tax we can get for this fund. So that's why it shows a lower rate at this time because the assessed valuation went up. Now the um the homeowner would see approximately the same thing because their assessed valuation went up but the rate went down. So they both level out and would have approximately the same for this fund. And then you'll see um also part of uh the operations fund is the capital projects plan. So this is um one portion of the capital um projects plan. There's two different ones. One is um projects, the other is equipment and things like that. So you'll see um the totals of this for each of
039the three years. It's a three-year plan. However, we're only um held to the one year. So every year you can do um you can update those other two years as needed as things change throughout the district. So you'll see um some of the items that that were um were turned in for these capital needs on this slide and then also on the other one. This is the one that I wanted um the board to really pay attention to. So, these are the needs that we wanted um that were turned in for the district for all the capital projects. Of course, you know, we have tons of stuff. Our facilities study uh showed there's tons of stuff that we um um need to do. So, on this list is one of those where we list anything
040that we can that we may take out of the operations fund. That doesn't mean we have to take it all out, but it needs to be on this list if it's over $10,000. However, you'll see all these wants or needs on this list. We won't be able to fund all those. So, that's what I wanted to make clear to the board that, you know, as you go through your work sessions and the general obligation bonds and the leases, you always pick like a priority list. So, I wanted to make sure that you had all the things on this in case then in the future whenever you want to do those, they're on this list and you don't have to worry about it later. And what um we've kind of run into that the last couple
041years going, well gosh, we really wish we could buy this equipment or do this. So, I wanted to list everything that give you guys that flexibility to do what you want to do each of the years as um uh you discuss and as needs arise. So, that's why I just wanted to point that out that we wouldn't um fund all of these, but it gives you the variety um to be able to pick and choose what you do want to do when you come to that um that state and that year of each one of these three-year plans. And then next, we have the bus replacement plan that's also done out of the operations fund. So, this is a five-year plan of um the buses that would be up for um replacement. And you'll see
042here over the next couple years, we're trying to build this up because we were so far behind on our bus replacement plan. Um, however, we have to be very careful. Like we talked about the operations fund where this comes from, um, has those new property taxes, all that stuff that will be coming. Your lit will be going away. So, we're going to be very careful on this. Um, especially coming 2028. So between our facility needs and then our bus replacement needs um we'll have to manage both of those to see um what we can do that year. So just because this is on here doesn't mean that we have to do every one of those that's listed. We can't do more but we can do less if needed in that particular year. So then um
043this is the other the first one was the first three years and this is the last two years and then you'll see the totals down there at the bottom of what's built into the budget at this time for the bus replacement plan. And then next um the next steps you'll see um going through here um all this information you'll see the top portion there. This is what um I have to do behind the scenes after all this information is gathered. Um these are the forms that go um into the department of local finance. So this is all the things that after we have those numbers, I put all these special forms together. It does a calculation in the middle what's called a form 4B and that gives us those tax rates, the estimated tax rates
044or levies or property taxes. So it does all that and then our outputs are um all of our forms that will go through these board meetings over these next couple board meetings. So you'll see all that information and then next you'll see um these are the estimates. So this is our form three notice to taxpayers that we'll go over in a little bit. Um but these are just the totals from from those forms and it also has our um our transfer in there from our education fund to our operations. So you'll see that in there um for our budget estimates. And then also on the next one you will see um our uh different our estimated levies, our property taxes for each of the funds. And you'll see there, of course, we did not do
045anything um for education fund because it's not a levy property tax fund. And we did not allocate anything for out of the rainy day fund for 2026. However, if the board so chooses later in 2026 if you have needs that you need um or want to take out of the rainy day fund, then you can do what's called an additional appropriation process. But at this time, that's what I heard um is that we did not want to do anything automatically out of the rainy day fund. So we kept that at zero for this budget year. And then um talking about those uh the next steps also. So we advertise on the the DLGF site, the gateway site and that is the um Indiana data website for everyone to look at. And then we also advertise
046on our district's website. and we advertise um our bus replacement plan, our capital projects plan, and our form three notice to taxpayer payers. And we have to advertise those and they must be advertised for a minimum of 10 days before our next um step, which is our public hearing that we're going to have on September 22nd. So, I'll be submitting these first thing tomorrow morning on all um of the the gateway websites. And then I'll also have um Cindy work with uh our marketing to have those advertised on our website also tomorrow. And then our second steps of course will be September 22nd where um we hold uh our um public hearings and we have to hold three separate public hearings. One on the actual 2026 budget for the major budgeted funds all another one
047on our capital projects plan and then the third one on our bus replacement plan. And then on in our October board meeting, that's when we um ask the board to adopt all the budgets. And we have um different forms at that time. One is called a form four. That's the main one. Our capital projects plan, our bus replacement plan, and some other various resolutions that we'll do at that time also um according to state statute. And um these are just um talking about that again. what we do after all that. Then they they miss with um every school in Indiana. They sit there and do all the calculations behind the scenes. They're doing all of those through each county. And then what they give us is um what's called a 1782 notice. So that's a
048draft budget of all those calculations that they present um to the school district. We look over those with a fine tooth comb because they're human just like us and they've made mistakes where they might leave off a debt service. one of those schedules that we talked about. So, we um once we receive that draft 1782 notice, we have 10 days to review it line by line to make sure everything was what we anticipated it to be. And then we respond back with yes, we accept it as is or nope, oops, you forgot one of our debt services. And that's happened several times um for um both districts that I've worked at. So um that we will get that as soon as all that is um finalized from us any kind of corrections or changes or
049accept as is. Then what they um by state statutes they have to certify our budgets by December 31st. So so that is the plan for um the 2026 budgets. I think that's the last one. I'd be happy to answer any questions. I know that's a lot of information, workshops, a lot of lot of um data and details, but I'd h be happy to answer any questions the board may have at this time. >> So, in the past, we only had one person inputting data and that has bit us in the butt at some point. Do you have anybody uh in the business office validating your numbers after you put them in just to make sure everything looks good? >> Absolutely. Um I I run through this of course with the superintendent and then also um
050currently I was working with the COO and the director of finance and the corporation treasurer. >> Multiple eyes. That's important. >> Any other questions? >> Questions or comments for Becky? >> Well done. Thank you so much. >> Welcome. >> Um we'll move on then to C2, permission to advertise 2026 budget form three. Mr. Smith. >> Sure. Um, as part of the steps, um, this is the main requirement one where, uh, Cindy, I think she'll pull that up. I don't know if you have that ready. If not, um, it is in your board packet. So, the form three is, um, simply those numbers that we just went over in the budget workshop, and it it shows the budgets that we're advertising, and then those levies, those two different pages that we just went over. And then
051it also shows um when our hear budget hearing will be and when our adoption will be. So that is what we will advertise um on the district's website and also the gateway website. And then also um those pages that you saw from the capital projects plan. same thing, the notice to taxpayers telling when um we're going to hold the public hearings and then the information from those two different u pages where it showed the equipment over $10,000 uh that we may you utilize our operations fund for from and then also uh any kind of projects over $10,000 that we're only using the operations fund for. Um that does not include projects um that we already are doing out of our bonds or leases. So here you'll see that notice to taxpayers that form three where
052it shows our um public hearing information, the dates uh and um also the um adoption for for all of that. So then you'll see also the um the numbers there. You'll see the notice to taxpayers there on um the capital projects plans and all that. And then I think that's the that one. I can't remember which one those are. I can't see that far. Sorry. um the bus replacement and the capital projects plan. So, you'll see all of that um posted on the gateway website and also on our um um district website. >> So, I just want to make sure I heard you correctly. >> The stuff that we had talked about at our work session and and that stuff that doesn't have to be listed in the projects capital projects plan >> or does
053it? >> The ones for the bonds and leases do not. >> Okay. So your capital projects plan is only gives you the opportunity to spend those projects out of the operations fund if you have the funds. So that's why we listed all that big old list in case you want to take any of those out of your operations fund. If you're doing those out of your debt service fund, which is your bonds and leases, you don't have to have them on there. And you might have some on there that you plan on doing later, and that's fine, too. It gives you that um that variety to be able to do um pick and choose from which one you want to do. It's better to have too much on your capital projects plan and be able
054to have the opportunity to take it out of your operations fund than to not have it listed and not be able to do the project because you didn't have it listed there. >> On the F3 form, it shows the the address to be for the location via the administration. >> I just saw that. >> So before that's posted. Yeah, I just saw that. I don't know why that would have defaulted. That's a default, but we will make sure it's changed. If it's not corrected, then it won't be eligible if it's not in the right location. Correct. >> Correct. It would be, but there's um paper correction. I I need to refrain from saying that, but um there is ways to do it, but before this gets the button gets pushed, we'll make sure for some
055reason um they had that that address, which I think is weird that they would have that address automatically in your form three under gateway. Um, but I will make sure that I override that and get the right um address on that because I saw it come up right when she did that. I was like, hm. But we'll get that corrected before um I hit that button tomorrow morning. And I'll give you a new one um Cindy to be able to do because I can override that in the system. >> Good catch, Aaron. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mrs. Smith. Any other questions? >> I'll entertain a motion reference item C2. make a uh recommendation to approve the advertisement of the 2026 budget form three bus replacement capital projects plans with the exception of fixing the address
056on form three uh as presented. >> Thank you, Mr. Wall. Is there a second? >> Thank you, Mr. Mlen. Any further questions or comments before we vote? Hearing none, let's vote on the motion. Motion passes 70. >> Thank you, Mrs. Smith. We'll move on to item D one through 10 consent agenda. Mr. Trout. >> Yes. Uh first of all, thank you Mrs. Smith as always. That's uh very impressive and so I'm grateful for all the work that you have put into this and for your work with us in the past. I have just absolutely great confidence in you and what you provide for us each year. So, thank you. Um board, I want to draw your attention to item number seven. Um one of our local partners is um we're blessed to say the least
057with our fire and rescue independent contractors. These are firemen in our community who give of their time and efforts to invest back into our community and to our kids. And so I had the great opportunity to watch these one of these gentlemen in action and and our kids are fortunate to have such uh professionals in our community investing in them. So I um gladly recommend your approval for that. The other one that I just want to draw a highlight to is the title two funding professional development summer training stipens. We just need to make a couple clarifications in that. And so, um, that's just, um, working on a couple of of of those clarifications, but I am seeking, um, your approval of items D 1 through 10. >> Thank you, Mr. Trout. Name like to
058make a motion reference the consent agenda. >> Motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Thank you, Mr. Melture. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. time. Any questions or comments before we uh before we vote? I would like to just also mention uh in the request to accept donations, uh Sam and Brenda Wright uh made a contribution to the uh fire um class that they have at the learning center to purchase four sets of uh boots um for the firefighters are in the class. um thousand bucks doesn't sound like much, but boy, I'll tell you, it makes a big difference for that class. And um and I know they weren't able to be here tonight and asked me if I could uh say a little something about how grateful they
059were to be able to make that type of contribution. So, uh God bless them. Any of their further comments or questions? Let's vote on the motion. Motion passes 70. Move on to item E1, administrative guideline 6550, travel payment and reimbursement. >> Yes. Uh board, this is just the first reading. It does not take any action uh this evening. If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this administrative guideline, please let me know uh ahead of next board meeting. I highlight highlighted for you that the one significant change in this administrative guidelines is on D. Um we needed to specify that gratuitities could not exceed the 20% mark. And so, um, that's the only true change in this, but one that we needed to clarify. So, Mr. Allen, this is just the first reading, but
060if anybody has any questions or comments about this before the next meeting, uh, don't hesitate to reach out to me. >> Thank you, Mr. Trout. Any questions or comments references item >> on that 20% gratuitity? Is that only on the transportation portion of it? There is also this is just the one that's just the travel payment and reimbursement. And so um when you read that in there, this is just for the travel part itself. If you go down to meals for F, you'll notice there that the maximum per day includes that gratuitity. So it matches. Okay. And then um we also specify the maximum per day uh for meals also. And so we're just making sure that this one matches and B that we're clarifying both sides of this equation for travel. Okay. Thank you,
061Mr. Carl. Thank you, Mr. Trout. Any other questions? hearing. None. We'll move on to item F1, items discussion by board members. Anybody got anything they'd like to share? >> I do. Tim, just remind everybody that Saturday is our car show, classic car show out there at the campground. Proceeds from all that come back to Huntington County to blessings in a backpack to feed our kids. So, everybody in this school corporate has a nice classic car needs to bring it out by 10, 10:30. And >> that is a great uh cause. >> A good cause. Very very good cause. >> Like said 100% of it comes back here. >> Thank you, Mr. Mlullen. Anything else? Uh I had the privilege of attending the girls flag football uh game on I believe it was Wednesday the 3rd
062last week. Uh it was a fun time. If you have a chance and they only have three home games and that was their first one. So if you have a chance, stop by. It's a great time. Uh it's two 25minute running halves and it's a it's kind of fun to watch. So >> are they playing at the stadium? >> Yeah, they played at the stadium. It was great. Uh and it was just a fun time and really it doesn't take that much time but it's fun fun time. >> Thank you Mr. Wall. Anybody else? I will move on to item G1. I take a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mr. Wall. Is there a second? >> Thank you, Mr. Carl. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I
063Nobody's opposed.