Spending $500 on a professional to look at Shawano School District’s budget could either yield new ways to save money or confirm that district officials are being fiscally responsible.
Members of the School Board Executive Committee on Monday discussed the possibility of bringing in Three Lakes School District Administrator George Karling to go through the district’s budget to identify potential savings.
The fee for Karling’s service ranges from $500 to $1,000, depending on how deep of a review the School Board wants.
No action was taken, but the committee directed Superintendent Todd Carlson to contact Karling for more details about what his budget review would entail.
Karling has previously helped other school districts with their expenses, according to School Board member Marcia Yeager.
Karling has been with the Three Lakes district for 28 years and is considering working as a consultant full time in two or three years, Yeager said.
“What he does is, he comes inside, he looks at your budget to see if there are any other ways you can save money,” Yeager said. “He said there are a lot of places he has seen where they could improve, and there are places where they are doing a great job.”
Yeager said the idea of an outside consultant came about after she encountered a local resident last week who wanted to discuss the proposed 2013-14 budget prior to next week’s annual meeting. The resident was concerned whether the tax rate would remain at $9.95 per $1,000 of equalized valuation.
“I was asked why couldn’t we lower the rate, why couldn’t we do better than that?” Yeager said. “I said I don’t know if we can.”
Carlson noted that the district already goes through a regular audit to look at spending.
Yeager said Karling has an advantage because dealing with school budgets is part of his job in Three Lakes, so he has inside knowledge an outside auditing firm might not have.
Julie Van Dyck, School Board chairwoman, favored the idea, saying that, if nothing else, it provides an outside point of view and gives board members confidence to say the budget is as tight as it could be.
“If anything, it’s one more person looking over our shoulder, and if he has suggestions, then great,” Van Dyck said.
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