Carson City School District prepares for cuts

As the Nevada Legislature resumes session this week, Carson City School District officials know cuts are coming but are unsure of the extent.

Anthony Turley, director of fiscal services for the district, gave an update to school board members Tuesday. He said officials estimated they would see about a 10 percent cut, around $2.8 million to $3.1 million.

"It appears with what's going on with the budget process, we're looking at 9.2 percent," Turley said. "We aren't that far off of what we had anticipated."

What they didn't anticipate, he said, is that the districts would be told specific areas to cut.

Under Gov. Brian Sandoval's proposed budget, the schools would be directed to reduce all salaries by 5 percent. It also changes the way money would be distributed in the school accounts.

However, his proposal needs to be approved by the Legislature and there will likely be several changes made before that happens.

"The end result could be vastly different," Turley explained.

He said even if the budget passed the mandate for salary cuts, it wouldn't necessarily mean they would come to fruition.

"We are under obligation through state statutes to enter into good-faith bargaining with our bargaining units," he said. "The pay issue is something that has to be decided there. Would it be on the table? Absolutely."

Another hitch in the governor's plan is a restructuring of fund distribution. In his proposal, districts would place less money in their debt services fund - an account set aside to pay back bond issues - and it would go instead into the school's general fund. The sum taken from the debt services account would be counted as part of the total amount the schools receive from the state through the Distributive School Account, meaning the state would pay less to the schools.

Turley said he fears moving the money from one account to the other would be disingenuous to taxpayers.

"The voters passed a bond to pay for debt, but now it's going to operations," he said. "It is out of our control as a local jurisdiction."

He said they will be watching the Legislature closely to see how it all turns out. Regardless, he said, there will be cuts in funding.

"It's not a pretty situation," he said. "We don't need to get too hung up on those line items, but we know it's going to be around 10 percent reductions in funding."

But it's still too early to know just what will happen. He said there will be budget workshops and public hearings as the school district's final budget is being prepared.

"Right now, any form of savings is on the table," Turley said. "How we get to the end result is going to be a collaborative process."