New Bill Hits School Board with Health Cost Hike

Pickens County School Board will soon see another health cost increase as a result of Obamacare. During its second finance workshop of the year, Finance Officer Amy Burgess delivered the bad news to the board. Since the last workshop she said a bill passed the House that will raise the district’s healthcare cost by $286,000. She added the bill is now in the Senate and is expected to pass. Burgess explained the bill is a way to adjust State Health by bringing it back in the black. She also said there’s a provision that may put State Health at the end of FY14 for seven and a half days.

“It’s an additional increase of $78.66 per month per certified employee who carries state health with us. At this time, we have 303 employees who do that,”

Burgess said.

The increase comes at a time when the school system is struggling to pay over half a million dollars in health care increases. According to Burgess, the total increase for FY14 is $850,000, which includes the $286,000 from the pending bill.

Burgess also informed the board of another unexpected expenditure.

“A couple of years ago,”

she said,

“our RESA paid our membership fee for one year…because they had money and we didn’t…In that agreement, if they ever needed the money they could ask for it back; they have asked for it back before the end of the year.”

The amount is over $20,000. By law, every school district is required to belong to a Regional Education Service Agency, or RESA. Superintendent Ben Desper said the RESA Pickens belongs to is “broke.”

“Our RESA,”

he said,

“has already furloughed their employees 23 days. And basically they want the money as soon as they can get it so they can make payroll for the rest of the year for their employees.”

Desper called several financial concerns in the FY14 budget “moving targets.” He explained that different disabilities for students are funded at different rates, saying some of these rates could possibly change. Another “target” is the tax digest. Last year, the county’s tax digest lost $400,000 in property value. Desper expects to see a similar loss this year. But, here’s the rub: the school board finds out the digest numbers later in the year due to the appeal process.

Burgess presented two overarching options to address the financial woes: 1) raise property taxes, via the millage rate. This would increase the revenue stream for the school system. Desper, though, said he didn’t think the economy could handle it, thus rejecting the idea. Board members agreed. 2) Cut the budget. The proposed budget cuts come mainly in the form of the elimination of positions. The district plans to eliminate 30 positions. According to the discussion, some positions will be eliminated through attrition. The district will not rehire positions made vacant by retirement. Other positions may be moved around or transitioned into part-time positions. Desper said 15 positions have already been “taken care of,” meaning through attrition or other means. Some positions the district is looking at cutting include Para pros, clerks, and faculty.

“We have six (elementary teachers) more than we need,”

Desper said. Since contracts have not yet been signed, the superintendent said it was still early and that his hope was to place everybody by internal restructuring, saying the school system will not hire from outside unless it can not fill a position internally.

“What we’re hoping to do,”

Desper said,

“is to have everybody have a job and… still serve the kids the way they need to be served. Does that mean we may change service models or something? We may have to look at all kinds of options of different ways to serve the children. Children are going to be served, because they’re going to be our priority; we’re going to do what’s best for them.”