On Oct. 23, a day before the municipal election took place, the 2014−2018 board of trustees for the School District of Mystery Lake (SDML) held their last meeting.
Outside of dealing with some last-minute housekeeping items, the board also heard from independent accountant Manisha Pandya, who presented the SDML’s audited financial statements for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018.
Compared to the previous year’s statements, the school district ended 2017-18 with a 0.98 per cent decrease in expenses (from $43,172,356 to $42,749,957) and a 2.9 per cent decrease in revenue (from $45, 273,970 to $43,935,019).
According to Pandya, this slight drop in revenue is partly due to thethe fact that the SDML won’t be receiving any grant-in-lieu money from the city until at least 2022.
Otherwise, the district also ended the year with a slight increase in their consolidated accumulated surplus, which jumped from $11,333,118 in 2017 to $12,510,487 in 2018.
After Pandya ended her presentation by saying she was satisfied with her findings, the board of trustees approved this year’s financial statements unanimously.
The full financial report can be read on the school district’s website under the documents section.
At the tail end of the meeting, some members of the school board also took time to bid farewell to their colleagues.
While Guido Oliveira, Leslie Tucker and Don McDonald reclaimed their seats following the Oct. 24 election, trustees Sandra Oberdorfer, Elizabeth Lychuk and Ryan Land all announced ahead of time that that they wouldn’t be running for re-election.
Janet Brady also stepped away from the school board on June 30 after announcing her retirement.
“I really just want to thank all of you for the last four years,” said Lychuk. “I’ve appreciated working with everyone and I really learnt a lot that I will take with me throughout the rest of my life.”
The newly elected board of trustees will be sworn in Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. at the school district office at 408 Thompson Drive North.
