At its August 30th Finance Workshop and called meeting, The Board of Education set its tentative budget for FY2012 and tentative 2011 millage rate. The information, however, seems to have fallen on deaf ears, or more accurately, on no ears at all. The conference room at 91 D.B. Carroll Street was empty except for board members. The board spoke before rows and rows of empty chairs. The tragedy in this is that the board reported comparatively good news. Superintendent Dr. Ben Desper and Chief Finance Officer Amy Burgess said that they and the board have been working on the budget since February. Desper said that he was proud of the work that Burgess and the board have done. He touted few counties right now can say they have a budget like the tentative one passed last night. According to the tentative FY12 budget, Desper brought special attention to the fact that the board would not recommend furlough days for teachers, would retain a full school calendar, and would not cut employee benefits. One thing that has helped the county, Desper said, is the number of foreclosures in the area. Although foreclosures are not good for those who experience them, he explained that these foreclosures were taken over by banks and the banks have paid the property taxes on them, where, conceivably, the county would not have previously received the taxes. This assertion, though, may have been a bit presumptuous. According to Burgess, the county has recently received back taxes. She said she did not have access to those who paid their taxes or if it was foreclosure situations, but she gets the impression that the money did come from foreclosure situations. However, Burgess could not confirm anything definitive in this regard.

The board also retained a tentative millage rate of 15.97, the same rate as the last three years (including 2011) and set a tentative rollback rate of 16.016. The county also received more revenue than expected this year, which contributed to a tax decrease of -0.29 percent.

For the board, this is a triumph because the county has suffered a series of financial losses to overcome. In financial terms, these losses are called “revenue reductions and unavoidable expenditure increases.” According to the county, these reductions have been recovered in the budget by “restructuring, operating reductions, and attrition of staff.” Here, the one item in the list which deems attention is state health increases. Over the summer, the county discovered it was required to pay an increase in health insurance for non-certified employees. The increase was $50 per employee per month, resulting in a total of $190,000. Desper said that the county was able to handle the increase for now, but said he was scared for future health insurance increases for certified employees, which could arrive as soon as January.

Burgess noted that the gross and net value of the 2011 digest is lower than they were in 2008.

“Revenue is 2008,”

Desper interjected,

“but, prices are 2011.”

In addition to the health insurance increase for non-certified employees, Burgess said the budget underwent some other changes since May 19th, the last time the board discussed the budget. One of these changes was the addition of special education personnel that was not covered by the special education grant. As such, funding for these services was taken from the general fund. Also, changes in bus routes saved the county $120,000.

In the end, the county came in under budget and was able to retain a full school year, prevent furlough days for teachers, and keep staff benefits. Superintendent Desper reiterated that he appreciated the hard work Burgess and her staff put in to the budget, but warned that future budgets may not be so promising and that mandated health insurance increases will doubtless soon put a strain on finances.

If approved by the board, the next meeting to finalize the FY2011 budget and set the 2011 millage rate will be held September 22nd at 7 P.M. at the Board Conference Center at 91 D.B. Carroll Street in Jasper. Plenty of seats are available.

Pickens County BOE Discuss the 2012 Budget from Fetch on Vimeo.