Tuesday evening, the Picayune School Board of Trustees heard the proposal for next fiscal year’s budget, which requested an additional $634,000 in funding
For the next fiscal year, District Finance Director Lisa Persick predicted total revenue of $34.7 million, with expenses totaling $35.7 million.
Persick said the remaining funds would be covered by the District’s fund balance, projected to total $6.9 million. She said the fund balance currently stood at 22 percent of the District’s annual budget, a figure above the Board’s mandate of 8 percent.
Of the revenue proposed to come into the District, $10.1 million would include ad valorem taxes. State funding would total $16.7 million, and federal funding would equate to $7.5 million. An additional $201,795 in funding would come from 16 section leases.
Expenses would be divided as such; $19.7 million for instructional, $13.2 million for support services, $18,118 to 16th section, $114,900 to construction, $122,303 to debt service and $2.6 million to non-instructional, which includes food services.
Assessed valuations have been on the rise the last three years. Persick said that during the 2016-2017 school year, the assessed valuation of taxable property within the Picayune School District totaled $169.8 million. The prior year, that property had a value of $156.7 million.
Last year the state mandated the Pearl River County Tax office use a new valuation table to assess properties, causing a number of tax payers to see increases in their tax bills, as previously reported by the Item.
Persick said the budget is bare, only adding in the expenses of a new bus, and some money for new programs. She also said the state cut Mississippi Adequate Education Program funding by $728,717, leading to the need to dip into the District’s fund balance. Persick said salary increases are included in the budget, but did not specify the departments during the hearing.
No cuts were proposed to staff or pay, Persick said.
If cuts to MAEP funding continue, then cuts to staff and/or pay could be proposed, she said.
The final budget will be presented to the Board at the next meeting, set for June 27 at noon.