The Hamburg Area School Board recently ratified a contract for electricity for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years with Constellation Energy Inc.
The rate per kilowatt hour that the district will pay represents a 15 percent reduction compared to the 2018-19 school year, district Business Manager Michele Zimmerman said.
The new rate represents a projected $30,000 reduction compared with usage for the 2016-2017 school year, according to Zimmerman.
Zimmerman also noted that several variables affect energy usage, most notably weather, which would adjust the amount of savings the district receives.
In other news at the Oct. 23 meeting, the school board approved a donation of $5,000 to the Hamburg Public Library.
Zimmerman noted that the district has donated this amount for several years.
School board members also increased the district’s assigned fund balance to $12,205,485 by transferring $2,705,485 from an unassigned fund balance.
The assigned fund balance is for balancing the 2017-18 budget and for future building improvement projects, according to Zimmerman.
School directors also moved $45,128 from the committed fund balance to the unassigned fund balance leaving the committed fund balance at $2,358,368.
The committed fund balance is used for Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) and Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) balances, according to Zimmerman.
OPEB are benefits that employees will begin to receive at the start of retirement and include remaining sick time and personal time, Zimmerman said.
These benefits do not include pension benefits paid to the retired employee.
HRA provides reimbursement for eligible expenses.
School directors met in executive session prior to the meeting to discuss a student matter. Further details were not available.
The next school board meeting is Monday, Nov. 6, at 6:30 p.m. at the high school.
