LFISD Trustees Review Budgets, Appoint Underwriters at Special Meeting

A special meeting of the Board of Trustees of the La Feria Independent School District was held on August 29, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. The meeting was called to order following the invocation and a recitation of the pledge of allegiance.

To begin, President Alan Moore announced the beginning of the scheduled public hearing. The hearing was conducted by Ramon Mendoza, CFO for La Feria ISD, and centered on the budget and tax rate for fiscal year 2016-2017. Major items under consideration included salary increase for all staff, capital outlay items for maintenance and transportation, student desks, band travel and safety items.

Afterward, President Moore declared the public hearing closed and proceeded to move on to the next item- consideration and approval by the board to appoint an underwriting syndicate.

In previous bond issues there had been two underwriters appointed for the refunding program. First Public, LLC and Estrada, Hinojosa & Co. were considered for the 2016 and 2017 series. Board secretary- treasurer, Gloria Santillan Casas made a motion to approve the appointment of Estrada Hinojosa & Co. at sixty percent and First Public LLC at forty percent as the underwriters for the refunding series 2016 and 2017. The motion was seconded and passed.

Next, the board considered the approval of the La Feria ISD general fund, food service, state comp. and debt service fund for the 2016-2017 fiscal year. Board Vice President, Juan Briones made the motion to approve the budget and was supported by the rest of the board.

The board proceeded to approve the proposed tax rate of $1.2991 which is comprised of maintenance and operations of $1.17 and interest and sinking of $0.1291.

After the motion for the approval of the tax rate carried unanimously, the board went on to discuss budget amendment No. 7. The board is increasing state and local revenue for the year and is also redirecting funds to the appropriate functions as part of the last budget amendment for fiscal year 2015-2016. Secretary- Treasurer Casas made a motion to approve budget amendment No. 7 for $770,000. This is the final amendment for 2015-2016 fiscal year ending August 31, 2016.

A motion was then made by school board member Katie Johnson to approve a purchase order of over $25,000 from HealthWebCE International: EMS Educational Program. All fees are paid from the La Feria High School allotment grant. EMT/EMR fees, depending on the number of students, will be between $13,030.00 and $26,060.00. Patient Care Technician/Certified Nurse Aide fees, also dependant on the number of students, will be between $14,970.00 and $29,940.00.

The Board then went into closed session for fifty minutes discussing personnel matters regarding resignations/retirements and employment of personnel, deliberations regarding real property and receiving legal counsel. After discussion of any actions taken while in closed session, the meeting was adjourned.