ComMentor - Spring 2021 - Flipbook - Page 3
THANK YOU
A Message from the Chief Financial Officer
W
hat does one do after 48
years of being a school
treasurer? The choices
are to retire or continue
working. I’ve chosen to
retire, based upon my need to slow down
from the intensity of my current position
and to spend quality time with my wife,
Sandy and become more of a presence in
the lives of our two sons and their families.
I will forever be grateful for the opportunity
to be the Chief Financial Officer / Treasurer
of this great district.
I am very proud to say that my tenure in
Mentor Public Schools is my longest as a
Chief Financial Officer / Treasurer. Mentor
has provided me many career highlights,
rewarding professional accomplishments,
and memories.
My very first week will forever be one of
my top memories of this district. I started
on a Monday and a property tax levy, that
would have prevented fiscal emergency,
failed on Tuesday. Wednesday, the Ohio
Department of Education and Auditor of
State declared the Mentor Schools were
in fiscal emergency and on Thursday, the
fiscal oversight commission took over the
management of the school district. Remarkably the Mentor Board of Education,
Superintendent Dr. Jackie Hoynes, and the
community rallied and passed an emergency levy in August 2004, which allowed the
school district to have the second fastest financial recovery on record (we would have
been the fastest except for a technicality).
Since then I am proud to have contributed
to sound financial management and the
implementation of institutional safeguards
that should prevent any future financial
crisis. As a result of prudent financial management and a focus on building credibility with our public, we have received ten
“perfect audits” during my seventeen-year
tenure in Mentor. The Treasurer Office staff,
and I were honored to have Dave Yost, then
Auditor of State come to Mentor and personally present me with the “Ohio Auditor
of State Award with Distinction.”
I have longed believed that the title of
Chief Financial Officer carries a responsibility to add value to the district. I will always
be proud of the innovative programs we
The Mentor Board of Education recognized
Mr. Wilson for his years of exemplary service at
its March meeting
developed for our school district through
strong and collaborative leadership. Many
of these programs have created new non local tax dollar revenues.
In 2009, we began, for the first time, a
Medicaid reimbursement program that to
date has generated more than $4,350,000
in revenue for the school district.
Based upon Dr. Jackie Hoynes’ vision
to provide local superior education to our
students afflicted with autism, we designed
the business model for the C.A.R.E.S program and since 2012 we have accumulated
$4,078,096 of additional funding for the
school district from our C.A.R.E.S program. Additionally we have saved several
million dollars in our out of school district
tuition expenses.
In 2013, we developed the Treasury Management Services program to sell Treasury
and management services to other local
and nonprofit entities. Since its inception,
we have generated $1,817,063 in revenue,
which currently funds 3.5 full time positions in the Treasurer’s office.
In 2013, in partnership with Lake Health
Hospitals, we developed our onsite, physician staffed, Cardinal Clinic. We are one of
very few school districts nationally with an
onsite health clinic for employees. This program has been a major reason for the reduction of our employee health care expenses.
Over my seventeen-year tenure the average
annual increase in health and prescription
drug increase has been 5.9% compared to
a 12.1% average annual increase before my
arrival. In six of the last ten years we have
had a zero percent rate increase.
We have also had success in enhancing
the fiscal management practices of the
school district. We have created five fundamental fiscal beliefs that the Board of
Education has embraced. In 2006, we converted our employee pay dates from 26 per
year to 24 per year creating a permanent
$1,500,000 deferral of budget expenses. In
2015, our district became debt free. I have
guided the development of five-year fiscal
plans for capital repairs and improvements;
technology; classroom furniture; and vehicles that have been incorporated into our
five-year fiscal projections.
All of the innovative programs and fiscal
management enhancements has allowed
the school district to shift operational
spending to instructional enhancements
and allowed us to delay future property tax
levy requests.
In 2015, 1 worked with then Superintendent, Matt Miller, to replicate a partnership
model from my own junior high school experience. We formed a partnership with the
Mentor Public Library to operate the Mentor
High School “Hub” after school hours for
use by both students and the community.
With the Board of Education’s support
and encouragement I have been active in
several boards and professional organizations and twice been appointed by the
Governor to serve on the School Employees
Retirement Board of Trustees.
Over the years in Mentor, I have been
blessed to have worked with great Treasurer office employees that have worked hard
to support our prudent fiscal management
and focus on improving and maintaining
credibility with the public. I have also been
very fortunate to have worked for and with
so many great School Board members. I still
plan to remain active professionally in a
part-time and less intense role so I can continue to contribute to my profession. Thank
you to the Board of Education and community for the support you have given me and
confidence you have had in me during my
time with Mentor Public Schools.
— Daniel L. Wilson
Spring 2021 / Mentor Public Schools
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