The state-ordered shutdown of Niles City Schools as a coronavirus precaution has led to a projected deficit in its food service fund of more than $194,500.

District Treasurer Rhonda Baldwin-Amorganos disclosed the projections during Monday’s virtual meeting of the Financial Planning and Supervision Commission, the panel overseeing the district’s recovery from fiscal emergency.

“If revenue coming in was going to remain the same and the expenditures wouldn’t have changed, we would have been very close to breaking even,” Baldwin-Amorganos told 21 News after the meeting.

Niles Schools have been in state-declared fiscal emergency since February 2019.

Meanwhile, the commission voted 4-1 to approve a contract with The Nutrition Group, which has managed the schools’ cafeterias and food distribution for the last few years.

The district pays the company $112,000 per year. Commission member Giovanne Merlo, Niles City auditor, cast the only negative vote.

“Circumstances have been difficult however I still feel the district needs to bid it out,” he told 21 News. “We need to be transparent about it.”

Commission Chairman Bob Foss said that the contract expires after the next school year, so a new agreement will have to be put out for bid.

The district is also considering a switch to an in-house food supervisor by the 2021-2022 school year, but the treasurer said her survey of those districts using one has been inconclusive.

The treasurer did have some good news for the commission. The district was notified Monday it has been awarded more than $913,000 from the federal government’s CARES (Coronavirus Relief and Economic Security) stimulus package.

“We haven’t had any clear guidance what we can and cannot use (the stimulus funds) for,” Baldwin-Amorganos said. “Since we just got notification today, I would think it would be coming soon.”

The funds are part of a $2 trillion stimulus relief effort approved by Congress and signed by President Trump in April.