Kingfisher County Excise Board members Michelle Miller, Jim Wittrock and Jim Berkenbile unanimously rejected the Kingfisher Public Schools estimate of needs (budget) of $16,200,523.75 for the 2024-25 school year and instead approved an estimate of needs of $14,203,959.12 at a public meeting held at the courtroom of the Kingfi sher County Courthouse this past Wednesday morning. Approximately thirty concerned citizens attended the meeting.

The statement released by the Excise Board: The Excise Board has reviewed the estimate of needs of the Kingfisher schools, listened to taxpayer protests, and asked questions of the school board, which they refused to answer.

The motion made by Wittrock and approved unanimously: Kingfisher County Excise Board rejects the Kingfisher Public School 2024-25 Estimate of Needs totaling $16,200,523.75 General Fund Millage of 36.04 mills. A revised Estimate of Needs totaling $14,203,959.12 General Fund Millage of 20.59 mills is approved and certified by the Kingfisher County Excise Board.

The budget will be filed with the State Auditor Inspector next month. Once filed, there will be a 15-day period at which time any Kingfisher school district taxpayer may protest it.

Last week the Excise Board met and decided to table the request to this week, to give the Kingfisher School Board members time to answer prepared questions regarding specifics as to why the increase was requested.

John Storm, CPA, and longtime advisor to the Excise Board, said the school board chose not to answer the questions under advice of legal counsel.

Berkenbile commented that he felt the school board should have been preparing in advance for the income shortfall knowing for several years that there was a lawsuit filed against the school district.

Storm said after the meeting that the Excise Board was very curious as to why the school spent over $22 million last year, (with only $17,326,477.42 in total revenues collected) which included improvements to the football and softball facilities, including new artificial turf and new buildings, knowing that this situation might occur?

The school board was seeking a way to allow the school district to pay this year’s installment of approximately $1.75 million of a total $5 million settlement being paid to Mason Mecklenburg, which stemmed from a civil suit filed against the school district and multiple coaches in July, 2021.

Storm said a payment of $1.25 million has already been made to Mecklenburg and the amount for this year is $1.25 million, with an additional approximately $500,000 in accrued interest, for a total of approximately $1.75 million.

Two more yearly payments of $1.25 million each year will remain after 2025.

Storm clarified after the meeting that one example of what Berkenbile was referencing was that the school’s total revenues for last year was slightly over $17.3 million, which left a carry-over of only $3,359,837.98, (which is approximately $5 million less than the carry-overs for each of the previous two years of approximately $8.9 and $8.3 million).

Storm said that typically school districts will only budget to spend 90% of revenue from the previous year.

Max Thomas, now retired, KPS superintendent from 2000-2008, was contacted by the Kingfisher Times and Free Press, and agreed that was a typical budgeting practice.

What this decision will likely mean for property owners within the Kingfi sher school district is that property taxes will not be increased. What this means for Kingfisher Public Schools is that extreme budget tightening measures will likely be implemented.

At the beginning of the meeting, Kingfisher school board member Brad Wittrock read a prepared letter, telling of progress made at the school in recent months.

The estimate of needs, submitted would have raised property taxes within the school district.

During his presentation, Wittrock said that the school board was preparing a website to answer questions regarding the lawsuit consequences and that the board was trying to be as transparent as possible regarding its actions.

“I hate this. I don’t like it,” he said in reference to the budget shortfall coming through the lawsuit payout process.

Wittrock also mentioned that he would pursue changing legal counsel of the school, which is currently provided by Rosenstein Fist & Ringold, based in Tulsa.

Over $1.38 million in legal fees have been paid by KPS to the firm from 2021 to2024. Theendresult was the law firm advised the board to settle the lawsuit and pay the $5 million settlement.

Wittrock was contacted by the Kingfisher Times and Free Press after the meeting, and he related that he has always felt that the school should pay the settlement dollars without going to the school district taxpayers.

“I still feel that. I think there is a way,” he said.

Wittrock said that the school board is striving for clear transparency, and he reiterated that the board members are working on a website that anyone who wishes to can go to the site and see KPS monetary business and transactions, both past and present.

Because of deadline constraints, there will be more concerning the school board’s plans and actions in future issues.

The Kingfisher County excise board members are paid $100 per month to review the county budget and the budgets of government entities and the school districts within the county.

The responsibility of the board is to ensure that the constitutional and statutory functions of the local governments are adequately funded within the revenues available.

Another important duty assigned to the excise board is to set the tax rates for the ad valorem taxing districts within the county.

In most cases the board meets in June and periodically thereafter until all duties have been performed.