BENTONVILLE -- The School Board hired a finance director and got a preview of next year's budget during a work session Thursday.
The board voted 5-0 in favor of promoting Nathalie Brunell from director of accounting and auditing to finance director. Board members Willie Cowgur and Rebecca Powers were absent.
Salary adjustments
In approving the promotion of Nathalie Brunell to director of finance, the Bentonville School Board also approved splitting her old position into two jobs: director of accounting and finance clerk. The combined salaries of those two jobs will be $95,509 next year, about $14,000 less than what Brunell is earning this year. Brunell will make $112,172 as finance director, nearly $11,000 less than what current director Sterling Ming earns this year. The overall salary reduction in the finance department will amount to $24,586.
Source: Staff report
Brunell was one of 19 candidates to apply for the job and the only internal candidate. Sterling Ming, the district's finance director since 2005, announced last month he would retire at the end of this school year. Ming has worked in education for 40 years.
Brunell has worked for the district since 2010. She previously worked as an auditor for Frost, PLLC in Fayetteville and as audit and tax manager for Beall Barclay and Co. in Rogers, according to her resume. She has more than 20 years of experience in accounting, auditing and finance.
"Nathalie is already an asset to our School District and has been working with one of the finest finance managers I've ever known," said Michael Poore, superintendent, referring to Ming. "She impressed every interview committee. Her technical background in school finance is exceptional."
Brunell and Lisa Morstad, former chief financial officer of the Fayetteville School District, were finalists for the position, but Morstad withdrew her candidacy when she reached the final round, Poore said.
Travis Riggs, board president, thanked Ming for the work he has done and said Ming's knowledge of finance and education in general is "truly going to be missed."
Brunell will oversee a budget that's about $138 million this school year. It's expected to grow by several million dollars next year.
Thursday's work session focused primarily on finances. Ming presented preliminary budget figures for the 2015-16 school year indicating how he expects the district's expenditures and revenue to change.
Revenue will increase by about $5.3 million and expenditures will rise by $5 million, according to Ming's projections.
The expenditures don't include the cost of textbooks, which is unknown at this point, Ming said.
The revenue increase comes from an estimated $3.3 million in additional property taxes and $2 million more in state foundation money, which is based on enrollment.
New expenditures include nearly $800,000 for additional personnel, including a principal, bookkeeper and football coach for West High School, which opens in August 2016. Ming projects the district will need another eight teachers as well.
At the same time, the district is mulling a reduction in its staff by 11 full-time-equivalent teacher assistants.
The two biggest additional costs will come in the form of debt service -- an extra $1.6 million -- and a second lien payment of $800,000 to help pay for the next elementary school, scheduled to open in two years.
Ming is building the budget on a conservative estimate of student growth, said Poore. That's because Haas Hall Academy, a Fayetteville charter school, intends to open a Bentonville school this fall serving students in grades seven through 12. School founder and superintendent Martin Schoppmeyer has said the Bentonville school will open with no more than 320 students.
Those students could come from anywhere in the area. Poore said he's continuing to work on getting names of those who will attend Haas Hall in Bentonville.
Poore said the budget numbers may seem tight, but noted that has something to do with Ming's conservative estimates.
"Typically this report is the one that kind of makes you go, 'Gulp,'" Poore said. "But the way (Ming) does his work, this picture typically gets a little rosier."
The district's fiscal year starts July 1.
NW News on 04/24/2015