It was strictly business for the Gilpin RE-1 school board at their May 7, 2024, meeting. They devoted the evening to budgets, fee schedules, and taxes.

The Board unanimously approved a first reading of the 2024/2025 school district budgets. They finished the night finalizing the text of their Board statement on the controversial Educational Enhancement Tax (EET). They unanimously approved the amended version of that statement.

There were many student achievements to celebrate. The womens’ soccer team qualified for regionals in their second year of competition. The school play Tales of a Jedi Kid displayed the quality and talent of the school thespians.

Superintendent David MacKenzie said that Gilpin High School received national recognition from US News and Report with a Best High School Award Badge for educational excellence.

Schools are ranked on their performance on state-required tests, graduation rates, and how well they prepare their students for college. Gilpin High School was ranked 4,405 out of more than 25,000 schools across the nation, 105 of them in Colorado. In comparison, Clear Creek High School was ranked 118, while Nederland High School was ranked 84.

Gilpin RE-1 business analyst Joe Tinucci was the only speaker at the meeting, addressing how the 2024/2025 budgets were created. He answered questions from the Board regarding the different budgets and how they could be interpreted.

In his review of the 2024/2025 budget, Tinucci highlighted that revenues were up slightly, and expenses increased for school wages, the School Resource Officer, and Jefferson Center school therapists. He added that debt servicing on the money borrowed for the school project would begin in June and be approximately $46,000 per month or about $550,000 per year.

Board President Sarah Swanson asked if the funds for the sewer line project would come out of reserves or the operating budget. Tinucci said it would be a combination of interest earned on the borrowed money, EET funds, reallocation of some capital funds, and reserves.

MacKenzie said that the EET funds would be used primarily to pay for the sewer line project for the first couple of years until the certificates are called. Then the District would use reserves. The goal would be to make additional payments per period to pay off the debt sooner and reduce the amount of interest paid.

Tinucci concluded his presentation by saying that, looking forward, it will take a while to rebuild the reserves to their current level. He said that the 2025/2026 budgets and beyond will need to be managed for sustainable operations because the reserves will be depleted to pay down the debt and won’t be replenished because the EET money will also be used in the next few years for debt servicing.

MacKenzie conservatively estimated that after the debt for the sewer line project has been paid off in three to five years, it will take about ten years to rebuild reserves to current levels.

The Board voted unanimously to approve the first reading of all the adopted and supplemental budgets for the General, Food Service, Capital Projects, and Pupil Activity Agency funds.

The Board discussion regarding their statement on the EET started with MacKenzie stating that the bottom line is that if they ever increased the mill levy on property taxes or allowed a successful vote on a county sales tax, then they will lose the EET funding.

The Board discussed text in the statement that emphasized how much the district had benefited from the EET funding and how much less RE-1 property owners pay than surrounding school districts for educating children in the 21st century. The board unanimously approved the amended statement for public dissemination. It is now on the school district website.

The next board meeting is scheduled for May 21 in the school boardroom at 7 p.m., when the 2024/2025 budgets will have a second reading and vote. There will be a public forum on the 2024/2025 budget before the meeting, at 6:30 p.m.

The contractor for the sewer line project, ESCO Construction, will hold a public meeting on May 29 at 6:30 p.m. in the elementary school Multi-Purpose Room (MPR). The meeting will include the construction timeline, traffic control on Highway 119, and a question-and-answer session. Entrance to the meeting will be at the south side entrance by the playground.

There is a video of the May 7 meeting on the RE-1 YouTube channel. The agenda, documents and 2024/2025 budgets for this meeting are on the RE-1 website (gilpin.k12.co.us) under Board of Education Agendas.