Omission, some budget figures force school board to set another hearing

    While tax askings were not going to change for the coming year, the Chase County Schools 2021-22 budget didn’t get a vote Tuesday after an omission and possible incorrect figures on the published budget document were discovered.
    Supt. Adam Lambert went to work to set another budget hearing and vote by the school board on or before Sept. 20 when budgets are due  to the state. The new hearing and vote will be held Monday at 7:30 a.m.
    As the budget was being reviewed at Tuesday’s meeting, member Jeff Olsen, who is on the budget committee, noticed there were zero building fund dollars listed for the current 2020-21 budget year under the Actual/Estimated Disbursements & Transfers column.
    However, there were expenditures budgeted for that fund. The dollar figure was inadvertently omitted from that line in the advertised legal notice on the budget two weeks ago.
    Olsen also said the proposed building fund dollar figure for 2021-22 appeared too high from actual numbers, as well, and thought other funds may not have the exact figures.
    Because of that, it may have made the total budget figure for ‘21-22 incorrect.
    “I think they need to be looked at,” Olsen said of the numbers.
    Supt. Lambert noted the CCS district’s tax askings would not have changed despite the issues that arose during Tuesday’s hearing.
    The tax askings are proposed to increase about $25,000, from $8,3989,374 to $8,423,471
    Board President Karl Meeske suggested rescheduling another hearing and vote, which requires publication in a newspaper of general circulation in this area.
    According to LB 148, the notice must appear four days before the hearing.
    Supt. Lambert said the rescheduled budget hearing will be advertised in the McCook Gazette since The Imperial Republican deadlines had passed to include another notice this week. The board passed a policy the past year that states the McCook paper can also be used for legal advertisements.
    If the budget had been approved, CCS taxpayers would have seen a drop in the levy from .671011 to .663577.
    Those tax figures are likely to stay close to or be exactly the same as was advertised earlier, but the board chose to proceed with another hearing and vote.
Girls wrestling team
to be added at CCS
    Activities Director Troy Hauxwell informed board members CCS will have a girls’ wrestling team this year.
    The Nebraska School Activities Association approved adding girls’ wrestling as a sanctioned activity, and schools had a Sept. 1 deadline to make decisions on fielding teams.
    Hauxwell said CCS has a couple of girls interested in wrestling, as in previous years, so administration registered a CCS girls’ team, one of 121 statewide. At this point, there will be two districts, possibly three, he said.
    Of the 44 different regular season competitions this year with girls’ divisions, 15 meets will be out west, he added. In order to compete at district tournaments, girls must wrestle in five meets during the season.
    If a school doesn’t have a girls’ team but has girls on its wrestling roster, they would have to wrestle in the boys’ divisions at meets, he said.
    Hauxwell said meets on the Longhorn schedule that will have a girls’ division this year include McCook JV, Bridgeport/Sidney, Garden Co., Hemingford, Southwest, the conference meet and Chase County’s home tournament.
    Weight classes for girls will be: 100, 107, 114, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 165, 185 and 235.
    The balance of Tuesday’s meeting will be covered in a story later this month.