Recreation district cuts budget by $45,000

Hot Springs County Recreation District Director, Anja Abbott, informed the Hot Springs County School District’s Board of Directors they have managed to cut about $45,000 out of their budget.

Abbott said they are trying to cut the little stuff here and there in order to get the budget in line.

This year, they are requiring ever group asking for funds to do a presentation, even if they’ve been getting money from the Rec District for years. Abbot said they have decided to wait to send any funding until they are absolutely sure the event is going to go on.

For now, she said, they have plenty of reserves, but they’re still making cuts now to ensure they’re ready for leaner times.

The board approved the Rec District budget of $220,300.

The board had minimal discussion regarding the proposed budget for BOCHES as there is not a lot of reserve in the CWC BOCHES account. They did approve $69,518.

Business Manager, Chauncy Johnson received a phone call from Wyoming’s First Lady, Jennie Gordon, commending the district on continuing to feed students in spite of the pandemic.

Johnson said he is continuing to look into bids for paper for the district. Fortunately, we don’t use enough paper products to reach a threshold where a bid is needed, but he is still looking for the lowest cost he can find.

He added he will use a local vendor if their quote is within five-percent of the other quotes.

The district may be over the 15-percent threshold for reserves and Johnson suggests the board may need to start thinking about what that money could be used for, whether its vehicles or activities or something else.

He wants to set up a depreciation reserve account as well. It is better to set this up now than have to turn the money back to the state. The money is tied to Sped funding, but we don’t always use all of it and this would be a way we could keep the unused funds.

The district received just a single bid for fuel this year, from Homax Oil out of Casper. They were the only bidder last year as well and this year costs are down approximately a dollar per gallon on everything they use.

The board approved the bid as it is a locked in bid and the price will not go up over the course of the year.

The board also approved a bid for a new communications system for the transportation department from Comtek Communications of Mills.

The $107,000 price package will update and replace not only the radios in the buses, but replace the infrastructure and hand held devices used by the department. This will connect all the buses with WyoLink, which stretches across the state, giving good emergency connection and better safety for traveling students.

The board awarded a bid to Converge One for $268,000, which covers five years of coverage on the district’s network.

It is an upgrade for all the infrastructure switches. The district received grant monies from the Federal Government for this project, so out of major maintenance, they will only have to pay a balance of about $80,000.