The financial outlook of Dowagiac Union Schools appears to have improved slightly from this same time last year, according to the projected budget for the upcoming school year.

The district Board of Education convened for their first meeting of the summer Monday evening at Dowagiac City Hall, where they passed a number of housekeeping resolutions for the upcoming school year, including the projected 2015-2016 general fund budget.

According to a report from district Financial Director Stacy Ritchie, the district is projecting a $183,000 deficit in next year’s operating budget, anticipating bringing in $21,142,771 worth of revenue while spending $21,325,779. This will leave the general fund with an ending balance of over $3.3 million, down over $300,000 from the previous year.

The projected deficit is an improvement over the number seen last year, where it was expected for the district to run a deficit of $66,000.

The district also approved the preliminary budget of its food services for the upcoming year. Like last year, the district expects them to run a surplus, in the amount of $1,210.

Both budgets, along with the finalized numbers for the 2014-2015 year, were passed following a public hearing.

Before passing the budgets, Superintendent Paul Hartsig thanked the district’s financial director for the work she has spent handling creation of the budget projections.

“Between having our audit going on this week, presenting our budget for 2015-16, and also doing the final revision for the 2014-15 budget, [Ritchie] has really put a lot of time into this, and I really appreciate the detail that she put into this,” Hartsig said.

The board also handled some other financial issues for the upcoming year, including a one-year contract renewal with with Sodexo, the district’s food services vendor.

“They [Sodexo] had a good year financially,” Hartsig said. “They had a good year serving our students. They increased the number of stops for our food service program…we’ve also increased the options at the high school, and we were able to reduce wait times.”

Finally, the superintendent announced that the state treasury had approved the language of the pair of bond proposals they school board had signed off on earlier this month. The two proposals, which would call for a millage increase of 2.5 and 1 respectively to fund renovations to a number of district school facilities, will go before a public vote on Nov. 3.