As Brookfield Local School District moves more toward outsourcing and seeking expert advice on specific topics, it must continually determine if it’s getting the best bang for its buck, Treasurer Craig Yaniglos told the school board Aug. 15.
The board has hired a lawn-care company, taking grass cutting duties away from school staff, and hired Madison Local School District to advise it on technology decisions, Yaniglos gave as examples. While it appears that the district is saving money from these moves, officials need to verify that, he said.
Craig Yaniglos
“That’s what we want to look at, just to make sure that we’re not missing anything and seeing what we are spending on is exactly what we need to be spending on and is it saving us somewhere else,” Yaniglos said.
The ongoing study was prompted by a trend analysis Yaniglos has been conducting on spending. Purchased services increased by about $85,000 from the 2016-17 school year to the 2017-18 school year, and now stands at about $2.3 million.
The trend analysis also shows that salaries have increased from 43 percent of spending in 2014-15 to 49.5 in 2017-18, and employee benefits from 16 percent in that same time frame to more than 20 percent.
“We’ll probably see a jump in that (benefits) again, just because we had a new 10-percent increase in health care on July 1,” Yaniglos said.
However, the trend in health care claims seems to have slowed in recent months, which could indicate less of a financial burden on schools in the future, he said.
