School board sets tentative millage, budget

The School Board of Jackson County has set a tentative millage rate and confirmed it’s proposed budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. The budget figure comes to $96,144,082 and includes much more than local tax money.
The board increased its total tax millage rate to 5.855 percent, from 5.660 percent in the last fiscal year. The board could have assessed up to 7.605 percent. School Board member Chris Johnson commented on that, saying “there’s alot of difference between what we are levying and what we could be levying.”
Superintendent of Schools Danny Sims explained the millage decision further.
“The state has required us to levy .25 of the millage of the 2 mills that we have discretion over,” he said. “Most of the increase is that .25 mills.”
This the first time that the school board has levied any portion of that discretionary millage, officials pointed out.
Based on the tentative millage set Tuesday, the total proposed tax levy would bring in $9,094,194.
Operating budget expenditures will be .8 percent more than last year’s total operating expenditures.
“Part of the budget that’s really difficult is the utility costs and fuel just going up. School boards operate just like a huge family. The same hit your household is taking is hitting us 40 times harder; just like running a household that’s much bigger,” said Sims.
One big expense in the overall budget is fuel for buses. According to Sims, 5,800 miles per day are traveled just to get kids to and from school.
State budget cuts combined with rising utility and fuel costs are affecting the school district, said Sims, but still the budget status is very healthy, he said.
“Our budget is like everyone else’s this year. We’re down about $2.2 million from this time last year (in state funding) due to budget cuts. There are things we’re trying to work with and of course, through the years, we’ve been cutting our budget. Our personnel and staff levels are where they need to be and we’re going to have to dip into our rainy day funds, some of the reserves that we have, but that’s what they’re there for. We’re not cutting any programs. All our programs will be maintained,”  Sims said.
The board will have a total reserve, or fund balance, of $19,186,940 to pull from if needed. Of that total, $274,897 is set aside for capital projects and $539,893 is to pay off part of a $3 million race-track bond the school board purchased a few years ago.
That leaves a total fund balance of $18,372,150 which could be used for general operations.
More than 80 percent of the total budget goes into personnel, said Sims.
Since personnel numbers are where they need to be, there are no planned reductions in staff or personnel, said Sims.
With lay-off out of the picture, the board is still saving about $120,000, having eliminated a handful of administrative positions through attrition.
And school princpals will be brainstorming today about other, smaller ways to save money. They’ll meet to discuss ways to save on utilities, travel, and other expenses.