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Catholic board trustees get first look at 'status quo' $280M budget

'This budget is really focused on trying to maintain programs in a time of great uncertainty,' says school board official; Budget up for ratification Thursday
SMCDSB
The Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board at 46 Alliance Blvd. Shawn Gibson/BarrieToday files

Trustees with the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board got a first look at the 2020/21 budget on Monday night. The overall budget increase was proposed at one per cent.

Superintendent of business and finance Suzanne Olimer walked trustees through the 144-page document highlighting where the board would be spending their nearly $280-million budget.

“This budget is really focused on trying to maintain programs in a time of great uncertainty,” said Olimer in her opening remarks. “What you see before you is a very status-quo budget.”

“It’s important to note that the funding we received did not take into account some of the extraordinary circumstances we’re currently facing as a result of COVID-19 and, as a result, our budget does not reflect those same expected or possible impacts to our expenses,” she added.

While going through the budget, trustees asked questions about the budgeting of positions or services that were on-hold during COVID-19.

“With school coming to an end at March Break, are the savings reflected in the surplus of our budget? I’m looking at (line items) for noon-hour supervisors. Has any money been allocated differently?” asked trustee Jeanny Salmon, who represents Bradford West Gwillimbury and Innisfil.

The line item for noon-hour supervisors lists the cost as $547,000.

Olimer said those types of savings are not reflected in the budget.

“We do have savings to noon-hour supervisors that are reflected in our forecast reports. Certainly, those savings have assisted us in being able to maintain our current surplus projection of about $3.4 million,” said Olimer.

A line item in the budget for psychologists was touched on by some trustees. In the past two budgets, there were five full-time-equivalent positions for psychologists.

In the 2020/2021 budget, that number was reduced to 3.20 full-time equivalent positions, with the overall budget for elementary school psychologists being cut nearly in half to $282,238 over 2019/2020 numbers.

“I thought we were increasing that line of work for our students,” said trustee Catherine MacDonald, who represents Midland, Penetanguishene, Tiny and Tay.

Olimer said the psychology staff had been increased over the past few years in anticipation of some retirements that came into effect this year, accounting for the change.

“There’s a fair amount of certainty being forwarded to us that there will be additional funding to be made available to all school boards to address mental health, transportation or equipment needs (due to COVID) because no regular school budget could be able to handle those extraordinary needs,” said director of education Brian Beal.

“Almost every other school board is passing a status-quo budget of this nature, because no one can predict what those costs could be,” he said.

Olimer pointed to some of the overspending that took place last year in transportation being offset by reductions to the school operations and maintenance budget due to COVID-19.

“Regarding the offset, how much is that offset? When we’re looking at (savings) from supplies, heating and lighting, is there a figure attached to the offset?” asked trustee Peter Fracassi, who represents Clearview, Collingwood, Springwater and Wasaga Beach.

Olimer said the 2020/2021 budget for maintenance and operations was being reduced by about $500,000. She added that the budget savings due to COVID-19 from the 2019/2020 school year would be reallocated to attend to maintenance projects that had been previously put off and additional in-year expenses. She did not have a specific number to report during the meeting.

“Unfortunately, we are unable to carry over the savings,” she said.

According to Pauline Stevenson, communications manager with the Catholic board, the budget is typically passed in mid-June however this year was put off due to the province not providing their grant allocation numbers until last week.

“Usually, we have a couple of months to put our budget together, but this time we’ve had to put our budget together in less than two weeks,” said Stevenson.

Stevenson attributes the delay this year to COVID-19 being the first priority for most governments at this time.

“Fortunately, when the numbers did come out, there weren’t a lot of big surprises in there, which is a good thing,” said Stevenson.

The budget is up for ratification on Thursday night during a special meeting of the board.

To access the full SMCDSB budget, click here.


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Jessica Owen

About the Author: Jessica Owen

Jessica Owen is an experienced journalist working for Village Media since 2018, primarily covering Collingwood and education.
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