WABO Summer Meeting 2003

Pinedale, Public Library

July 30

Welcome

Tom Burns introduced Dr. Charles Grove Superintendent of Schools who welcomed the group to Pinedale.

Warrant Financing

Mark Mickelson and Bruce Hendrickson discussed the following points to warrant financing:

• Warrant financing is used to assist with short-term cash flow issues.
• The process has become more complicated than in the past, many more documents need to be executed to be in compliance with the law which include;
• Warrant Resolution – Resolution passed by the Board to establish the borrowing authority.
• Warrant Purchase Agreement – Normal time period is 90 days, must be repaid within the fiscal year.
• Omnibus Certificate - establishes need and purpose of borrowing, outlines required accounts for the funds, which are the warrant proceeds, and payment accounts.
• Signature Certificate – Board secretary board certifies signatures are authentic.
• Tax Certificate – Overriding legal document addresses arbitrage issues, will have to show cash flow shortfall and when the problem will be resolved.  Warrant can be the maximum need demonstrated by cash flow projections plus a 10% cushion.
• I.R.S. Form 8038-G – Notifies IRS of transaction.
• Delivery Certificate and Cross Receipt – acknowledgement of documentation.
• Acceptance of Duties of Paying by Treasurer – certifies that borrowing will be paid back within the timeframe
• Previous two audits and current budget are also needed to document financing.
• FIB current cost is 1/2 % under prime plus $500 documentation fee.  No need to open an account at FIB to do this transaction.
• Package has been put together by Barbara Bonds, an attorney in Cheyenne who specializes in municipal debt financing and has been reviewed by Tracy Copenhaver who has indicated he has no concerns with the information.

School Risk Retention Pool Update

Keith Dobrolinsky and Chris Newell, Kevin Carberry with Arthur Gahallger and Greg Minter with Wyoming School Services Inc. gave an update on the SRRP program:

• Pool has started with United Educators (domiciled in Vermont) carrying Liability and Travelers carrying Property Boiler and Crime.
• Initial districts include; July 1; Lincoln #1, Laramie #1 Goshen #1, Sublette #9 Park #1 Big Horn #2.  August 1; Campbell #1 and Sheridan #3.  Other districts looking at the program for September are Sublette #1 and Albany #1.
• $250,000,000 limit for property covering pool currently.
• Overall liability coverage is $2,000,000 for all lines, General , Auto, E&O.
• Part of premium pays for insurance costs and remaining goes into the risk pool.
• Risk pool limit $100,000 for any loss either property or liability.
• Deductibles for property $5,000, E&O $2,500.
• Will do risk reviews semi-annually.
• Will do annual seminars on risk management programs.
• Claims management will be done by a TPA in Denver Gallahger-Bassett
• Appraisal of buildings will be a priority in the first year to get a solid number for each school district.
• Policy is not auditable unless increase in risk is $1,000,000 or more.  Many updates will be annual rather than constant for vehicle changes and drivers.
• Next SRRP meeting is in November.
• Program renewal date will probably be a date other than July 1 in future years.

Wyoming Retirement System Update

Harry Wales, Deputy Director of the WRS gave the following information on the Wyoming retirement system:

• Started in 1941 as the Teacher’s Retirement System
• School Districts comprise 50% of the members.
• Contributions are 48.7% of funding, 51.3% from investment income.
• 3.0% COLA can’t continue to occur per actuarial requirements.  The Legislature will have to make a change to statute to allow the Retirement board a range of 0-3%.  Currently restricted to either 0 or 3% no latitude in between.

Lunch at Country Club

Golf was sponsored by Dave Kenik with Long Mechanical Solutions with refreshments provided by WSBAIT and First Administrators.

Wine/Cheese/Microbrewery Event

The Pinedale Chamber of Commerce hosted a hospitality event at the Lodge.

July 31

Department of Education Update

Fred Hansen the new Director of Finance, Brenda Long and Wayne Milton updated changes to the reports and interim studies:

• Fred is a former school board member from Rawlins and has worked for construction companies as CFO in Rawlins and Cheyenne.
• Bob Morgan is living in Riverton and oversees special programs
• Quin Carroll, Finance, Data Tech, HR and Health and Safety
• Annette Bohling is the director of Federal Programs,
• Brenda Long addressed the evolution of School Level accounting
• 2002 Small School definition and study to determine what is a small school.
• Allocations are required for some costs and should be on a consistent basis such as ADM.
• Legislative demands for data are increasing, the Department will requiring more detail at the school level.
• Several business managers expressed concerns about not being able to contact data staff when working on year-end reports.  Fred will talk with the data unit and try to address availability of staff.
• Small School study group is conducting meetings during the interim.
• Tom Martin addressed the Voc Ed Implementation process
• Five programs were funded for the additional funding for either sustaining existing programs (4) or new programs (1).
• The letter on approved courses actually addresses disapproved programs the remaining programs are approved.
• Can petition for additional courses to be added as approved.
• Courses must lead to employability and a higher technical skill to qualify as a vocational course.
• Tom requested the course description booklet for all courses that will be applied for as qualified.
• Tom also requested copies of the worksheets for the vocational education courses that are used on the WDE-100.
• Every district has at least 2 sequential courses approved.

GASB 34 Implementation

Jim Dodson updated the group on compliance with GASB 34:

• Jim covered the history of the new measurement focus basis of accounting implemented by GASB 34.
• We must do reporting by major funds determination cannot be done by the auditors.
• Major Funds will be displayed rather than fund types on the fund level statements.
• Required supplementary information includes budget and actual comparisons v.s. budget amendments and management discussion and analysis.
• Paragraph 11 a outlines the requirements of the MD&A
• Modified Accrual v.s. Accrual we will need to assist auditors with additional data on what should be recognized for revenue and expenses since accrual is a significant shift in measurement focus.
• Major fund determination worksheet was handed out to show an example of how the testing process works.
• Captialization and depreciation of fixed assets is the major issue for school districts.  Examples of different categories were reviewed.

The group had a roundtable discussion on student activities and school based funding model.

Employment Division:

Ron Linford

Voice over IP Phone Systems, Web Inspector

Rick Van Cleve and Tim Allen with ETC

Hospitality Room

WGIF hosted a hospitality event at McGregor’s Pub

Dinner at Half Moon Lake Resort

August 1

AFLAC Presentation

Rob Woodson presented how the insurance plan works for both employees and the district.

Business Meeting

• Minutes/Treasurer Report – Ed Goetz presented the minutes and the treasurer’s report, Dave Rushforth moved to accept the report as presented, Jack Stott seconded the motion, the motion passed unanimously.
• PRC Report – Tom Burns requested that the group discuss the possibility of a separate section during the WSBA meeting in November for the PRC training. 
• Trade Fair - The group agreed if there is a significant issue that needs to be presented at  the annual meeting, the President would approach the WSBA Director to have a separate mini session for business managers.
• WASBO Shirts – The group agreed to purchase polo shirts for those who attend ASBO.   It was also noted that Dave Jones, a former WASBO member is nominated to receive an Eagle Award for community service.
• ASBO Report/MASBO Report – The headquarters hotel is the Mariott and Kay told the group to make reservations as quickly as possible since the rooms fill up fast.
• Web Page Update  - The site is up and working and Kay is working on upates with ETC.

Steps for Closing Schools and starting a charter school

Ed Goetz, Jack Adams and Vern McAdams discussed their experiences with closing a school and starting up charter schools.

Department of Audit

Pam Robinson shared with the group that they will try to do selected districts in June and then begin the process again in September with a quarterly schedule.  They are also looking in to how they can collect student data annually starting with school districts that use Power School.