Flat tax digest could hurt Barrow school budget
BY KRISTI REED
The Barrow County Board of Education reviewed preliminary projections for the 2009 fiscal year budget at its meeting Tuesday night.
Ken Cato, assistant superintendent of business services, presented revenue and expenditure estimates for FY09 (July 08-June 09) to the board.
Cato told the board that one of his primary concerns is the possibility of little or no growth in the Barrow County tax digest due to the economic downturn hitting the nation. At a recent Barrow County Board of Commissioners’ meeting, chief appraiser Cecil Whithead said he didn’t see the county’s tax digest going up during 2008.
For 2009, Cato told the board that he is currently projecting a five percent increase in the tax digest, but is concerned that those numbers may be optimistic based on predictions by the Barrow County tax assessor’s office.
Last year, the school system budgeted based on a 10 percent growth in the digest. The system expects to have received $32.2 million by the end of the FY08 in June.
Adding further uncertainty to budget preparations is a lack of information regarding state funding. Last year, state funding increased to $53.1 million from $50.8 million in 2007. While that represented a 4.6 percent increase in funding, the school system experienced a seven percent increase in enrollment. As a result, state funding fell from $4,460 per student in FY07 to $4,359 in FY08.
COSTS GOING UP
As school system enrollment continues to increase, so does the need for additional staff, which is projected to add an additional $3.8 million to the 2009 budget.
Another large factor in the 2009 budget is a whopping 41 percent increase in transportation costs. The school system plans to budget nearly $1 million dollars to purchase eleven new buses to replace part of an aging fleet.
Rising fuel prices have also caused budget planners to increase the 2009 fuel budget 88 percent to $1 million dollars. Though the 2008 fuel budget was set at $531,000, skyrocketing fuel costs in recent months has caused actual expenditures to exceed $790,000.
Cato told the board that he expects the school system to have $7.4 million in reserves at the close of fiscal year 2008. That reserve may prove to be important as current projections show expenditures exceeding revenues by the end of FY09. Cato expects the school system to have total revenues of $95.9 million in FY while spending $99.9 million.
Although the final numbers are subject to change before the final budget is set, Cato asked the board to begin considering budget priorities for the upcoming year.
The board will meet again April 10 to review the again work on preparing a final budget.
