Volusia schools to lean on reserves in $847M budget

The Volusia County School Board will vote Tuesday on an $847 million operating budget, even as members are concerned that the plan draws down district reserves by $1.65 million.

Meanwhile, early enrollment figures could further strain the district's finances.

The latest district budget is slightly less than an $869.8 million tentative budget the board adopted in July, with the difference largely coming from capital projects the district was able to complete in the previous year's budget, "reducing the carryover" to the fiscal year that started July 1, said Deb Muller, chief financial officer for the district.

While capital projects spending will decreased, the district’s general fund increased, Muller said, primarily because of adjustment for taxes and a net increase in the district’s total fund balance, which essentially serves as its savings account. The $620,780 increase stems from “finalizing carryover in projects,” Muller said.

The budget is close to $5 million below the previous year, and the district will have to fill a shortfall with $1.65 million from its reserves.

“We certainly wish that we could have eliminated the deficit,” Muller said.

Enrollment decline

Other cuts including scaling back on teachers, as the district’s student enrollment has slid.

The district’s 20-day enrollment totaled 62,948, which is 95 students fewer than last year’s 20-day enrollment and 514 students shy of the district’s enrollment projection for this school year.

Historically, the district’s 40-day count has been higher than its 20-day tally — a trend that School Board member Ida Wright is eager to see again this year.

“We are hoping that those numbers will level off before our final headcount later in October,” Wright said.

Continued decreases in enrollment could challenge the district’s budget in future years, particularly in terms of its efforts to boost funding it receives from the state.

Keeping up with inflation?

Like many of her fellow board members, School Board Vice Chairwoman Linda Cuthbert is critical of the state’s contribution to education in Volusia County and peer districts, particularly as that contribution hasn’t stayed the course with the country’s inflation rate of 17.5 percent over the last decade.

“I think there’s an overburden on our local taxpayers and not enough from the state,” she said.

Cuthbert is glad the district’s reserves are in place but has a hard time watching the district dip into its savings.

“It’s painful to take it out because it takes so much effort to put it in there,” she said, though she knows that the district “also must meet our obligations to our employees and our communities.”

Volusia district officials will feel the full weight of its obligations to employees come spring as they jump back into negotiations with local unions — a process that polarized the district and staff last year after rounds of collective bargaining reached an impasse.

The district will continue to “watch our expenditures” this year, Muller said, while ensuring the programs it implements are effective in increasing graduation rates and giving students a quality education.

Property-tax hike

During Tuesday’s 5:30 p.m. board meeting at the district’s DeLand office, 200 N. Clara Ave., the board will also move to adopt a property-tax rate for fiscal year 2018.

The board will hold a public hearing on the final budget and property-tax rate before taking a vote.

Last year the district’s property tax rate was $6.85 per $1,000 of taxable value, but the Legislature — which sets much of what the district may charge — established a lower rate this year, leaving the district at $6.52 per $1,000 of taxable value.

Still, the rate represents about a 1-percent tax increase because it’s higher than the rolled-back rate of $6.45 per $1,000, which is the figure needed to raise the same amount of revenue as last year on the same properties.

The proposed rate means the owner of a $125,000 home with a standard $25,000 school exemption will pay $652 in school taxes, or $7 more than last year.