North Putnam School Board approves budget during special session

BAINBRIDGE -- The school board for the North Putnam School Corporation met for a special session Wednesday amidst reports that it hadn't yet officially passed its budget for the 2015-16 school year.

After a previous quorum vote of 3-1, potentially passing the budget for the 2015-16 school year, the board approved the plan by a vote of 4-2 Wednesday at its administration offices in Bainbridge.

"We were informed after last week's regular board meeting that we didn't have enough yes votes to pass the budget," Board President John Hays said to open the two-minute meeting.

President Hays and Vice President Jill Summerlot submitted a "no" vote, while board members Darrell Wiatt, Mark Hoke, Ron Spencer and Jim Bowling all submitted "yes."

Broken down into categories, the budget consists of:

Adopted Budget

* General fund -- $12,123,590

* Debt Service fund -- $1,243,871

* School Pension Debt -- $231,531

* Capital Projects fund -- $1,986,183

* Transportation fund -- $1,404,000

* Bus Replacement fund -- $480,000

* Total -- $17,469,175

Adopted Tax Levies

* General -- $0 (Adopted Tax Rate [ATR] 0.000)

* Debt Service -- $1,515,263 (ATR 0.3031)

* School Pension Debt -- $221,055 (ATR 0.0375)

* Capital Projects -- $1,882,278 (ATR 0.3137)

* Transportation -- $1,293,003 (ATR 0.2586)

* Bus Replacement -- $340,547 (ATR 0.0681)

* Total -- $5,252,146 (ATR total -- 0.9810)

The school corporation's newly-adopted budget includes capital projects and investments such as two solar farms (located on the school grounds and on the high school's roof) and renovation projects for each building in the district.

Visit www.nputnam.k12.in.us for more information regarding this year's development plans.