Carson City school employees received notice Wednesday of an early Christmas gift.
School district officials sent an e-mail informing all full-time employees they would be receiving a one-time bonus of $300 in their Jan. 31 checks.
"This was not requested," explained school board trustee Bob Crowell. "This is coming from the board to show our appreciation for what they do.
"It's a reward for their participation in fiscal responsibility."
The money became available after the fiscal year 2004 audit revealed an additional $1.5 million in the school district's budget.
Superintendent Mary Pierczynski credits the employees for helping to make the surplus available.
With declining enrollment, and therefore less money from the state, officials asked employees to conserve energy and practice other cost-saving measures.
"When we explained this to our employees, everybody worked together to help save money in the district," she said.
So when it paid off, Pierczynski said, the employees deserved to reap the benefits.
"There are a million places we could have spent that money," she said. "But we wanted to give it back to them."
School board members approved the decision during Tuesday evening's school board meeting.
An additional $500,000 will be added to the $1 million set aside in the ending-fund balance, which serves as a sort of savings account.
The board also decided to use $160,000 to purchase two additional school buses, and $613,353 to fund the teachers' retirement credit program as mandated by the state.
The money could not be used to extend a salary increase because it is a one-time source of income.
Although the 90-pupil decrease in student population will start to have a negative effect on the amount of money the district receives from the state in July, Crowell said the schools are in fair financial shape.
"We're not out of the woods, but we're ahead of the power curve," he said.
Contact Features Editor Teri Vance at tvance@nevadaappeal.com or at 881-1272.
