District financial ad hoc committee created

CLINTONVILLE – A district financial ad hoc committee has been created to review financial matters of the Clintonville School District.
The ad hoc committee was created by the Clintonville Board of Education when it met May 12. The committee will consist of Board Vice-President Kris Strauman, Board Treasurer Jason Moder, and board member Ben Huber.
Leading off the discussion about creating the financial ad hoc committee, Board President Glen Drew Lundt said he personally felt that creating such a committee would be a good idea.
“Getting back to something that you said earlier, creating a committee for the sake of creating a committee, why?” Strauman asked. “What’s the purpose of creating an ad hoc committee?”
Moder said he believed those from CESA 8 providing financial advice to the school district could use help.

“Them guys have went through these reports and these numbers a million times, so sometimes in doing that, it’s very beneficial to have new eyes on something, or new ideas to come to the table,” Moder said.
Moder added that with the district facing a million-dollar deficit in future years, that it’s important for the board to take the time to review its finances.
Huber said he was not against creating a financial ad hoc committee, but asked the board members who wanted to be excluded from the committee.
Board member Mark Zachow asked if the intent of creating the committee would be to make cuts to the district’s budget?
Moder said making cuts would definitely be something the committee would discuss.
Zachow asked if making cuts would be the primary goal of the committee.
Moder said a financial ad hoc committee would review financial items regarding the district, but wouldn’t necessarily be “a hack committee.”
Board Clerk Klint Barkow said a financial ad hoc committee would allow the district to be more pro-active when it comes to the district’s finances.
Strauman questioned the need for a financial ad hoc committee since the administrators in the district have a better idea of what needs to be cut than the board members do.
“Creating a committee of just board members, I would 100% agree,” Lundt said. “But to me, a committee would include, anybody could be an option, so maybe we could get some financial gurus from town.”
Strauman said the district has financial experts from CESA.
“The committee can’t make any decisions, so having discussion and having more perspective just seems like it has to do better,” Lundt said. “Then that committee can do all the heavy lifting.”
Huber said the most important thing is to make sure that all board members have the financial information they need to make informative votes about the district’s finances.
“An additional meeting for a committee is one thing or an additional meeting for a committee of the whole is another thing, and I think both are acceptable to me,” Huber said. “I don’t have a strong feeling on either one. But I do think that we as a board have to look at the finances of this district moving forward. Look at defeasance, look at referendum, look at cuts, look at all of the options that are available.”
Clintonville Superintendent Troy Kuhn said he and the district’s financial managers at CESA 8 feel that if the district does a debt defeasance properly, the district should go to referendum in the spring.
“Because if it fails, it gives us another year to try to pass something again,” Kuhn said. “Or, we are going to be digging into our fund balance, potentially a million dollars for the next two, three years.”