Forecast shifts after fiscal 2020

FORT RECOVERY — School finances look strong in the short term but could take a turn down the road.

Fort Recovery School Board on Monday took a look at its five-year financial forecast, which shows continued surpluses for the next two years followed by deficit spending of more than $850,000 by 2023.

In other business at its meetings Monday and Tuesday, the board approved a series of new hires including for athletics director, boys basketball coach and girls basketball coach, and was updated on planned maintenance projects.

The financial forecast presented by treasurer Lori Koch projects a surplus of $157,205 for fiscal year 2019, which ends June 30, and a surplus of $247,091 for 2020. If those hold true, they would leave Fort Recovery with a year-end balance of $6.77 million by June 30, 2020.

The pattern then changes for fiscal 2021, with a projected budget deficit of $117,369. That increases to a projected deficit of nearly $470,000 for 2022 and $862,084 for 2023. 

Those projections at the back end of the forecast are significantly different from what the board saw in October. The forecast in the fall projected budget surpluses through 2023, with the balance climbing to more than $8 million.

That shift is because expenses are now expected to jump at a higher rate than revenue.

The forecast projects revenue to increase by about 1 percent per year through 2023, carried mostly by bringing in more income tax dollars. Meanwhile, expenditures are projected to increase by an average of nearly 5 percent, pushed by increases in the two biggest chunks of the budget — benefits (an average of 7.3 percent annually) and salaries (4.1 percent).

Also Monday, the board approved the hiring of Brent Niekamp as athletics director, Holly (Stein) Gann as girls basketball coach and Dean Sanders as boys golf coach. Board members Greg LeFevre, Jose Faller, Nick Wehrkamp, Mitch Ervin and Mike Grube then approved the hiring of James Melton as boys basketball coach at a special meeting Tuesday.

All four athletics department hirings had already been announced, pending board approval.

The board also accepted Niekamp’s resignation as a teacher as he moves into his new position.

Niekamp, who received a two-year contract, has led the Fort Recovery High School football team since 2005, including winning the Division VII state title in 2015. He will continue as the football coach while serving as athletics director.

Melton, a Union City Community High School graduate, is a Winchester resident and coached last season at Arcanum. Gann is a 2007 FRHS graduate who teaches math at Greenville Middle School and coached girls basketball at the middle school level in the Indianapolis area before returning to Ohio.

Superintendent Justin Firks also reported to the board that resurfacing of the track at Barrenbrugge Athletic Park is slated for this summer. All American Tracks will handle the work, which will include a polyurethane surface that is projected to last at least 20 years, at a cost of $149,938.

The floor at Fort Site Fieldhouse will also be resurfaced in early July.

The board has another special meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday.

In other business Monday, the board:

•Recognized valedictorian Cassandra Poeppelman and salutatorian Kayla Lennartz, as well as Brandon Siegrist and Jackson Ontrop, who participated in the school’s internship program.

•Approved the following: continued membership in the OHSAA; a contract with West Central Ohio Assistive Technology Center for July 1 through June 30; for Julie Westgerdes to receive a diploma upon completion of all requirements; Megan Highley as a summer school teacher; the hiring of teachers Jessica Faller and Renee Huelsman; the hiring of non-teaching employees Gerald Stammen and Kathleen Timmerman; contracts for the 2019-20 school year for JV volleyball coach Travis Guggenbiller, JV baseball coach and junior high football coach Kevin Eyink and assistant track coach Brian Reichert; contracts for book club advisor Brian Reichert, eighth grade advisor Brian Patch, science fair advisor Crystal Fullenkamp and student council advisor Jessica Jutte; and Dave Blockberger and Tyler Wuebker as volunteer football coaches, and Taylor Flaute as a volunteer cheer coach.

•Heard an update from guidance counselors Amy Kaiser and Mandy Gerhlach.

•Accepted donations of $500 each for the scholastic bowl team from Psi Iota Xi, Sons of the American Legion and Academic Boosters.