Spend it or lose it

MAT-SU — Time is ticking for the Mat-Su Borough School Board to decide how to spend the remainder of a nearly $2.3 million energy supplement from the Alaska Legislature before the end of fiscal year 2008.

If the district doesn’t spend the money by June 30 — and the Mat-Su Borough Assembly refuses to waive or change a key Borough ordinance — half of what’s left from the supplement must be turned over to the Borough.

An attempt to decide how to spend the money has been postponed until June 4. The district has approved spending $1.52 million of the money since the beginning of the school year.

Board members seem divided on how funds should be spent, some suggesting the board stick with a list prepared by the district’s administration, while others want to persuade the assembly to allow the district to keep all the money for use in fiscal year 2009.

The school district received the funds as part of an energy supplement from the state, but isn’t confined to spending the money to offset energy costs.

Six items from a list of 21 recommendations have been approved by the board. Now, the school district must spend the rest of its allocation before June 30 or lose half the remainder to the Borough, according to the legislation that provided the funding. The borough can also opt to take a smaller portion.

That split seems to be causing stress between the school board and the assembly.

District 7 Assemblyman Tom Kluberton said he cannot understand why the school district can’t figure out a way to spend the energy supplement.

“It’s just not logical to me,” Kluberton said, adding that an ordinance to change from a 50/50 split to a 80/20 split — with the school district receiving 80 percent of the lapsed funds — is in the works.

“I’m quite sure that the assembly is more than happy to get behind that,” Kluberton said.

If the energy supplement rolls over and the Borough gets a portion of the funds, that money would be put into a fund for the acquisition of school sites, essentially keeping the money on a school-based track, he said.

“It’s not like we’re stealing it,” Kluberton said. “It’s going to school sites.”

School district spokeswoman Catherine Esary sees it differently.

“The school site fund is not money that is readily available to be spent on necessary items,” Esary said.

That was the intention of the one-time allocation from the Legislature, to be spent on items needed now, said Pat Purcell , a school board member.

“We have this funding and we have things that need to be taken care of,” Purcell said, referring to what’s become known as the district administration’s wish list.

Purcell said a report by Management Information Services Director Tim Anderson outlines a need for technology upgrades and the importance of those upgrades to the district. Seven items on the 21-item list pertain to technology.

Ideas from board members of how to spend the energy supplement seem to vary as well.

Newly appointed board member Myrl Thompson said he believes some money should be used for school programs with the hopes of alleviating possible program cuts in the future.

“I would like to see some of it, personally, spent in ’09 trying to save some classes that we had,” Thompson said.

Jim Colver, the Seat A board representative, said he would also like the money to be held over for use next year, which would require the assembly to agree to completely waive the rollover requirement.

“We need that money for next year more than we need it this year,” Colver said.

To this point, Kluberton suggested looking ahead to next year’s needs and spending the remaining money from the supplement on those items, the idea being to free up money during fiscal year 2009.

“Why not go buy some stuff that’s in next year’s budget?” Kluberton said. “Then they just have that much more money next year.”

Esary countered saying next year’s budgeted items are more recurring things rather than one-time expenditures the supplement is designed for.

Whether the school board and assembly can come to agreement on the energy supplement will play out over the next few weeks. It’s too early to know when the Borough assembly may tackle an ordinance tweaking the rollover percentage to an 80/20 split, Kluberton said.

As June 30 creeps closer, “We can’t keep putting things off,” Purcell said.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Michael Rovito at 352-2252 or michael.ro-vito@frontiersman.com.