CHERRY TWP — Moniteau School District board passed a $22,442,293 budget without a tax increase at last week's meeting.

“Everything is pretty much status quo,” said John D'Amore, district business manager.

The district enters fiscal year 2019-20 with a $612,557 deficit, accounting for projected revenue of $21,829,736.

D'Amore said the deficit appears on the budget as $312,556 from the district's Assigned Fund Balance and a $300,000 set aside for unexpected expenses.

Similar to last year, the fund balance will be used on nonrecurring expenditures, such as infrastructure upgrades. The use of the fund balance appears on the expenditure side of the budget because the money is not coming from this year's revenue.

“We're still strategically using some of our fund balance to manage financial stability in the district,” he said.

D'Amore said the fund balance contains about $4.5 million. He said the district uses the funds for larger projects, but when there are no large projects, the fund is used on one-time payment of smaller projects or payouts.

He said using the funds this way helps offset the need for additional tax revenue. He said focusing on one-time payments from the fund also doesn't restrict the funds.

“If you have a mortgage, you're not going to pay for that out of your savings account,” D'Amore said. “It kind of helps balance the millage out year to year.”

The money coming from the fund balance for next year will be used for a paving project, a sewer line upgrade and a software upgrade, all of which are one-time expenses.

D'Amore said the only new jump in expenses was the addition of two part-time teachers to fulfill a promise made by Moniteau's board during last school year.

“One of the biggest changes is we went to full-time kindergarten from part-time kindergarten,” he said.

The school board voted in February to shift to a full-time kindergarten program, which enrolls children who are 5 years old. Registration for the district's kindergarten program continues until Aug. 15.