The Union County Board of Education (BOE) met for a Budget Hearing (Budget Input Session) on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 at 4 p.m. UCS Superintendent Dr. Fred Rayfield and all Board Members were present. Chairwoman Cynthia Odom stated that the purpose of the Hearing was to gather public suggestions and feedback for the proposed 2018 Budget for the UCBOE. Board Members, she said, are not required to answer questions or debate the issues. She said the allotted time for this Session was one hour.

UCBOE Chairwoman Cynthia Odom

Dr. Rayfield then addressed the Board and the audience with an overview of the Budget Process. He said the proposed Budget was not yet formulated, but that it would be available at the next regularly scheduled monthly Meeting in June. He said the second and final Budget Hearing would commence on May 16.

Dr. Rayfield went on the describe the difference between the General Fund and E-SPLOST Funds based on how each may be used by statute. He used a pie chart to show the current make-up of revenue to the General Fund at this time: 49 per cent from Local Taxes, 48 per cent from State QBE and 3 per cent from Other Local (ad valorem), TVA and Other State sources. He displayed a FY 2018 Tentative Budget and stated that there were no substantial changes and that this year is ‘stable’ compared to the recent past. He said the increase in revenue is due to the State sending money to offset the increase in the employer contribution for teacher retirement due to the 2 per cent educator salary raise voted for by the State Legislature. Dr. Rayfield said this allotment from the State was not forthcoming in past years; that the State has passed the cost of salary increases on to the local level, which is why the revenue pie chart was so heavily weighted towards local taxes in the past.

Dr. Rayfield said that UCS must always estimate the amount of tax revenue coming in because the final Union County Tax Digest isn’t completed until after the State requires the UCS Budget to be in on June 30; “We always have to estimate”, he said. He said he isn’t expecting much in the way of Federal revenue, given the current flux in Washington, DC.

Dr. Rayfield said on the Expenditures side, “Salaries and benefits amount to 87 per cent of our Budget; so that leaves us with a whopping 13 per cent to deal with operations”. He said a lot of that 13 per cent is committed to things like utility bills and such. He said the major cost of operating our schools is making sure that we have quality teachers, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, lunchroom workers; and with those positions comes insurance and retirement. Those costs are on both the employer and employee sides, he said.

Dr. Rayfield said not only does UCS have to consider the salary STEP increases, but the State mandated two per cent raise for certificated employees; that is, for teachers and administrators. He said we have the money (from the State) for it this time. He said the local contribution will be for the non-certificated employees who also get a State mandated two per cent raise: custodians, food service employees, etc. He said teacher retirement increased to 16.81 per cent, which is one of the biggest increases on the employer side. He said health insurance is increasing on the classified/non-certificated side and, astoundingly, that “we are getting close to the threshold of paying more in health insurance premium to some of our employees than we actually pay them in salary’. Additionally, he said, SRO wages that were paid by Union County have been transferred over to UCS.

This year, said Dr. Rayfield, our tentative Budget looks like we will be $29,397 under Expenditures, even with the State mandated increases in salaries and retirement.

Odom asked for public input and recommendations.

Pat Thibodeaux brought up the issue of yearly cost per student in the Union County School System being higher than most other Georgia school districts. She also observed that the new Ag Center and Performing Arts Center would add more to the cost per student per year. There was no comment from the Board.

Jack McKechnie brought to light the issue of the BOE holding a Budget Hearing at 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon, a time when most parents and other interested parties were still at work. Dr. Rayfield replied that the next Budget Hearing on May 16 will be at 6:00 p.m. McKechnie responded that, in the future, all official BOE activities should be held at 7 p.m. so more people could attend and participate.

Linda Hill observed that, when she drives by the new Ag Center, there never seems to be anyone there. She asked if, in fact, there were any maintenance people there and she wanted to know whether there were any classes going on there. She also asked what amount of money was allocated to a facility that appears to be largely unused. Dr. Rayfield responded, “There will be a ton of information in response to that question”. He said there are classes going on, projects ongoing, people are renting the facility and the cattle barn is full. He said the area for pigs was full and had run out of space.

Zeb Blanchard asked what percentage of salaries goes to Administration. No one had that figure handy, but the Board agreed to get that information to Mr. Blanchard. Blanchard then asked if there was any contingency, in case E-SPLOST didn’t go through, to take care of the maintenance on the infrastructure that was accommodated by E-SPLOST. Dr. Rayfield responded that, yes, there is a contingency plan; that any ongoing projects would immediately cease and money for them would be diverted to maintaining existing structures.

With no further business to conduct, the Budget Hearing adjourned. A video of the entire meeting can be viewed below.