Muscogee County School District proposed budget an increase of 4.6%

The Muscogee County School District’s general fund budget next fiscal year, including transfers to other funds, will be $287.3 million -- $12.6 million more than this fiscal year, an increase of 4.6 percent -- if the school board approves the administration’s recommended budget.

Monday night, starting at 6 p.m., the Muscogee County School Board will conduct the second of its three public hearings on the millage rate, which the administration has proposed to keep at 23.37 for the 21^st straight year. The first hearing was last Monday, when nobody took advantage of the opportunity to speak to the board about the millage but District 8 representative Frank Myers asserted the suggested rate is indeed an increase because the administration can propose to roll it back when the digest increases, as it is projected to do by 1 percent.

The final hearing is scheduled for June 12 at 5 p.m. The board is scheduled to vote on the millage rate and the FY 2018 budget during its June 19 meeting, starting at 6 p.m.

All of the board’s hearings and meetings, unless otherwise announced, are in the Muscogee County Public Education Center, 2960 Macon Road.

To balance the budget, superintendent David Lewis plans to use $16.7 million of the $40.2 million fund balance MCSD expects to have by June 30, the end of FY 2017. That would reduce the fund balance from approximately 38 days worth of operational expenses to 21 days.

Other highlights of the district’s FY 2018 spending plan:

▪ 2 percent salary increase for certificated staff, based on the raise designated for teachers in the state’s budget.

▪ Salary step increase within the state’s schedule.

▪ Mandated salary increase for bus drivers and nurses.

▪ Wage and salary increase for non-certificated staff, including part-time.

▪ Salary adjustment for security personnel, complying with new hourly rate.

▪ Increase in State Health Benefit Plan employer cost for non-certificated staff from $846.20 per member per month to $945, which is the same rate as teachers.

▪ Increase in Teacher Retirement System employer rate from 14.27 percent to 16.81 percent.

▪ Increase in Public School Employees’ Retirement System 403B employer contribution from 1 percent to 2 percent.

▪ Eliminate out-of-county and out-of-state tuition for students who are children of MCSD full-time employees.

▪ Initial staffing for the Rainey-McCullers School of the Arts, being constructed for middle school and high school students.

▪ Projected 1 percent increase in the local property tax digest.

▪ 1.5 mills ($6.5 million) for Chattahoochee Valley Libraries.

▪ One-fourth of a mill ($500,000) set aside for capital projects.

Revenue

MCSD expects to receive $270.5 million in total general fund revenue, an increase of 1.3 percent ($3.5 million) from FY 2017. The main source of the increase comes from the state’s allocation, which is 57.6 percent of the district’s total revenue and is projected to be 2.6 percent ($4 million) more than this year.

But the administration notes that the state allocation, although an increase, still is less than it should be, according to the 32-year-old formula in the Quality Basic Education act, which never has been fully funded. So, through FY 2018, the formula indicates the state will have shortchanged MCSD a total of $192.6 million since then.

Local property tax revenue, which accounts for $40.7 percent of total general fund revenue, is projected to be $109.9 million, an increase of 1 percent ($1.1 million), based on growth in the digest from new or improved property.

This story was originally published April 14, 2017 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Muscogee County School District proposed budget an increase of 4.6%."