File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

BUDGET MISTAKE

SD73 to unveil recovery plans Monday after accounting error leads to $2.2M shortfall

Sep 18, 2024 | 5:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Kamloops-Thompson School District is calling it an honest mistake, as officials now work to overcome a $2.2-million deficit created by an accounting error.

“It was an error in double counting a line item of revenue,” SD73 Secretary Treasurer Trina Cassidy told CFJC News Wednesday (Sept. 18). “We have corrected that worksheet going forward to better align with our financial statement reporting and our budget documents.”

Believing they were in a surplus position, the Board of Education spent the money.

“(The error) made the board believe there would be a $3.3-million surplus but, unfortunately, at the end of the year when we recognized that there was an error, the operating fund was at a deficit of $784,000 and the local capital fund was in a deficit of just over $1.2 million,” added Cassidy.

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The money the district thought it had was not spent frivolously, with Superintendent Rhonda Nixon noting it went to items like books, desks, new portables and technology for students.

“The local capital portion is exactly that, and putting in our portion of Valleyview (Secondary) which is the Valleyview expansion. Those are things that we need. We need space, we need to make sure that our vehicles run, we need to make sure that we have desks and chairs for students — and for that matter, staff,” Nixon told CFJC News.

Those purchases would normally have been spread out over a number of years. Instead, it’s now expected accounting for the error and rebalancing the books will be a multi-year process.

“We shared a plan that is one-to-two years and what we indicated to (the board) is that we would provide them regular updates, as we would the public,” explained Nixon. “Our goal when we did this with the finance team was to stay as far away from classrooms and students as we could, so you will see in the budget reduction plan, it’s very focused on things that we can manage to reduce.”

On Monday (Sept. 23), the school district will publicly explain the budget reduction plan, but confirmed staff cuts are not currently in the picture.

“We have no staff reductions in this current budget reduction plan. It is always a last resort to have to reduce staff,” said Nixon. “I can never speak for the board, but what I can say is that the secretary treasurer and I are working very closely to make the budget reduction plan you see work.”

The district will be reviewing the budget process to ensure a similar mistake cannot be made again.

The Ministry of Education did provide an emailed response to a request for comment late Wednesday afternoon, stating, “While it’s up to the boards of education to manage and make final decisions on their budgets, the ministry will be working with SD73 to understand this issue and ensure that funding is utilized as effectively as possible to meet the needs of today’s students.”