In 2006, a group of 23 Bergen County school boards in 2006 created a consortium for shared commercial banking services, now known as “BC Banc.” Still going strong, the consortium now includes 42 districts, most in Bergen County.
The consortium is not a pooled investment, and district funds are not co-mingled. Rather, it is a “loosely coupled” alliance that provides banking services, negotiates and monitors interest rates, and saves most of its members the cost of bank service fees. Each member board of education adopts a resolution authorizing its membership in the consortium, and establishing its own account with the bank.
Benefits are two-fold: The program maximizes interest earnings, and its increases districts’ business office efficiency. The negotiated interest rate on all accounts is based on the collective balances. And because the rate is consistently strong, business administrators do not need to spend time monitoring rates and achieving funds in search of higher rates.
As the districts like to say, overnight the members went from being financial “small fry,” to big investors.
Information
Contact: Dr. Philip H. Nisonoff, Emerson School Business Administrator, [email protected]
Online: BC Bank on the Emerson School District website.
A Shared Services Best Practice, recognized by NJSBA and the Rutgers-Newark Institute on Education Law and Policy in 2007.