2004-2005 Business Office Department Improvement Plan Section I 1. Campus/Department: Business Office-Tax Office-Warehouse 2. Location: Galena Park ISD Administration Building 3. Budget Manager: Michael Seale 4. Name of Campus Advisory Team: N/A 5. Department Demographics Data: Staff: Administrators 9 (White-4 Hispanic-3 African American-1 Indian-1) Clerical 24 (White-12 Hispanic-10 African American-2) Support Staff 4 (White-3 Hispanic-1) Financial: General Operating Fund Revenues and Other Financing $126,309,637 Sources (Audited 2002-2003): General Operating Fund Expenditures and Other Financing $124,131,549 Uses (Audited 2002-2003): General Operating Audited Fund Balance as of 8-31-03 $27,524,288 Debt Service (I & S) Fund Revenues and Other Financing $28,958,602 Sources (Audited 2002-2003): Debt Service (I & S) Expenditures and Other Financing $28,701,403 Sources (Audited 2002-2003) Debt Service Fund Audited Fund Balance as of 8-31-03 $3,075,843 Total 2003 Taxable Value: $3,047,274,266 2003 Tax Rate: $1.765 per $100 of assessed valuation (M & O) $1.565 I & S $0.20 2003 Tax Levy: $52,215,654 6. Campus/Department Mission/Vision Statement: Mission: To prepare students to become productive citizens and life-long learners. Business Office Purpose: To appropriately provide for the educational and developmental needs of the students of Galena Park Independent School District in a manner that is fiscally responsible to the taxpayers of the district. 1
Section II 1. Where We Have Been We exited the 1999-2000 school year with major challenges facing us. The sudden death of the district s CFO, the retirement of the district s Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, employee discord among the ranks of the business office clerical staff, a projected budget shortfall for the 2000-2001 school year, and an impending move to a new administration building were all part of a general sense of unrest in the business, tax, warehouse, and HRS departments. Prior to the 2000-2001 school year, the HRS and Business departments operated under separate leadership and were located in separate buildings. The two departments were often at odds when it came time to consider raises and staffing. Budgeting for special populations and special purposes were non-centralized. Consequently, it was difficult for campuses to understand the magnitude of the funds committed to their special needs, and there were both gaps in and overlaps to delivery of service. Due to a lack of training, many of the valuable features available through the district s financial software system (Delta) were not being used. At the same time, Delta had notified the district that they would stop offering product support sometime in the next two to three years. Our delinquent tax receivable balance was climbing every year. This had become a source of both financial and political concern. The district s teacher salary schedule was confusing, without focus, and inferior to those of many of the premier districts from in and around the Houston area. Teacher turnover was a concern to both administration and Board. The District had recently received approval to sell $120 million of construction and renovation bonds. However, rising construction costs and newly identified facility needs were driving the need for bond funds beyond the $120 million allocation. On the positive side, the accounting, tax, warehouse, and HRS staffs were dedicated, capable, and loyal. On another positive note, unlike many area districts, the district was not burdened with a history of deficit budgets, an unmanageable tax rate, or inappropriately low fund balances. 2
2. Where We Are Now In the summer of 2000, responsibility for the HRS and business departs were assigned to a single cabinet member, the district s Chief Operations Officer. This change resulted in a more efficient and peaceful budget and staffing process. In January 2002 the business office, tax office, warehouse, and HRS department were all relocated to a common facility. This move further streamlined and aligned the various departments that report to the Chief Operations Officer. Budgeting for federal funds, state compensatory education funds, and grant monies has been consolidated under the leadership of the Executive Director of Special Programs. This change has enabled the district to eliminate gaps and overlaps in program delivery and to afford principals more flexibility in the use of those special funds. The district is very close to completing a search for a new finance, accounting, and budgeting software system. Because that new system will not be completely on line sometime in 2004, we have trained system users to make better use of the functions available through our current software system. In the summer of 2002 the district renegotiated our delinquent tax collection contract, setting specific and challenging performance goals for our delinquent tax attorney. The attorney met that first set of goals and is now operating under a new contract that raises the collection standard even higher. In April of 2001, the Board began the practice of approving new staff positions and adopting the coming year s compensation plan around the middle of April. Then in April of 2002, as part of the 2002-2003 budget process the Board adopted a redesigned teacher salary schedule. That schedule is rational, competitive, and supportive of longevity. Those two actions have greatly reduced teacher turnover. In the summer of 2002 the district applied for and received approval to sell $8 million of Qualified Zone Academy Bonds (QZABs). Those are borrowing instruments that carry no interest burden, can be used to renovate aging schools, and can be issued without voter approval. The district was approved for a second $8 million sale in 2003. By reassigning projects originally planned for the $120 million bond referendum to the QZABs, the district will be able to build an additional elementary school and add other projects not anticipated by the 1999 referendum. On a negative note, the district is burdened with very labor intensive systems for tracking employee absences, substitute teacher schedules, and hourly worker time logs. Recently, an unproductive friction between our general fund accounting staff and our special funds accounting staff has developed. 3
The 2001-2002 audit report identified fixed asset tracking as an area of weakness for the district. That continues to be an issue of concern. The management and control of cellular phone lines and copier machine usage have also become problematic. 3. Where We Are Going During the 2003-2004 school year the district will implement a new substitute teacher tracking teacher absence tracking system and will upgrade our Kronos time clock program. Those two actions will significantly reduce the man hours required to process payroll each month and will improve accuracy. We will continue to raise the collection bar for our delinquent tax attorney. We have recently provided outside mediation to our accounting staff. The initial results are positive. We will continue to monitor the climate in that department to assure that friction does not reoccur. The district s Supervisor of Textbooks and Warehouse Services has been assigned the task of monitoring copiers throughout the district. We believe that move will reduce copier overage costs and reduce equipment downtime. The district has added a staff position that will be committed full time to the purchase, repair, and billing of cell phones. We believe that move will result in improved service and reduced cost. We have contracted outside consultants to assist the district in bringing our fixed asset records current and in implementing a system that will enable us to keep those records current into the future. We will select a software vendor for our new accounting system, develop a reasonable timeline for bringing the new software on line, and begin the conversion. 4
ACTION PLAN CAMPUS/DEPARTMENT: Business Office Campus/Department Goal: Select and implement financial & HRS software system to replace Delta Projected of Completion of Goal: August 2005 Rationale/Correlation: Other Standards: 1. 1) State Requirements (AEIS) # 2. 2) Graduate Profile 3. 3) District Goal # 4. Task/Objective/Action Start Finish Primary Responsibility (Person) Target Population and # Served Resources Required and Source of Funding ($ amounts) Indicators of Success Formative Summative Complete selection process, negotiate a contract, and begin conversion 09/03 08/05 Pat Butler District-wide Contract Service District Travel $25,000 Contract *Important, Desirable
ACTION PLAN CAMPUS/DEPARTMENT: Tax Office Campus/Department Goal: Continue to improve the delinquent collection rate with focus on personal property Projected of Completion of Goal: August 2005 Rationale/Correlation: Other Standards: 1. 1) State Requirements (AEIS) # 2. 2) Graduate Profile 3. 3) District Goal # 4. Task/Objective/Action Start Finish Primary Responsibility (Person) Target Population and # Served Resources Required and Source of Funding ($ amounts) Indicators of Success Formative Summative Reduce the number and dollar amount of personal property tax write-offs 09/04 08/05 Bazan District-wide Tax warrants and tax suits; delinquent tax attorney Increased delinquent tax collections *Important, Desirable