By Matt Crownover
Chronicle staff

     The Omak School Board held a budget work session on July 15 in preparation for a July 22 public hearing, after which next year's budget is expected to be approved.
     The hearing starts at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 22, in the district office.
     Fiscal administrator Ron Thompson went through next year's proposed budget with board members.
     According to the proposed budget, the 2008-09 general fund budget would be $18,970,720, ASB fund would be $336,687, the debt service fund would be $716,662, the capital projects fund would be $3,316,761 and the transportation vehicle fund would be $215,402.
     The budget includes a projected year-end fund balance of 2.99 percent, just under the districts' goal of 3-5 percent.
     The unreserved fund balance is projected to be $552,223.28. Last year's projected general fund budget was $15,457,000, Thompson said.
     Thompson is projecting a decrease of 40 full-time students from the final figures of 2007-08.
     "The loss of the students affects the budget quite a bit because we're losing out on the extra money," Thompson said.
     According to Thompson, the district receives $4,000 to $5,000 from the state for each full-time equivalent student.
     Final full-time enrollment for 2007-08 was 1,475 and Thompson said he is projecting next year's to be at 1,435.
     According to Thompson, in order to make up that $160,000 to $200,000 loss, the district is staffing accordingly. Thompson said the district did not fill a few positions vacated by resignations of staff during last school year.
     Thompson said that new state legislation requiring districts to raise salaries and benefits of employees is also affecting the budget. Not all of the employees' increases are being paid for by the state.
     The district must cover a number of the employees' increases and Thompson said that money is coming out of the fund balance. Thompson added that the state-mandated salary increase is 4.4 percent.
     Thompson said nothing else out of the ordinary or unexpected has happened in the previous year to affect the budget.
     "We are building this budget in a conservative manner as we've done in the past," said superintendent Bob Risinger.