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Hernando Today

School Board Passes Pared-Down 2008-09 Budget

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By LINNEA BROWN

Hernando Today

Published: September 18, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - District officials may be working with less, but students shouldn't feel the pinch.

That was the message from the members of the Hernando County School Board at the district's final budget hearing Tuesday evening in Brooksville, where board members voted 4-0 to finalize a proposed millage rate of 7.78. That will generate $84.4 million in tax revenues at 95 percent collections.

That's nearly 0.29 mills less than the current fiscal year's millage rate of 8.065.

The millage rate is $1 for every $1,000 of assessed value. At that rate, a property owner who owns a $150,000 house with a $25,000 homestead exemption will pay $972. Last year, the same homeowner would have paid $1,008, or $36 more.

Board members expressed frustration with the tightened budget, but said the district will be OK.

"We've been sliced and diced by (the state)," board member John Sweeney said.

Excluding transfers, the district's 2008-09 budget is $422.2 million, a decrease of nearly $24.2 million or 5.4 percent less than the current year's budget.

The budget is expected to be tight, with officials having to roll back numbers to the amount spent during the 2006-07 school year.
Finance director Deborah Bruggink, who explained the budget's breakdown, said much of the district's belt-tightening is because the state has been shifting more and more of the funding burden to individual districts.

"It's not a lot of money, but Gov. Crist certainly heard from the residents of the state, and that's what's reflected in the lower millage rate for school taxes," she said.

"This is the state's version of 'hold harmless,'" scoffed chair Sandra Nicholson, referring to Gov. Crist's promise that education funding would not be affected by tax cuts.

One of the biggest hits was felt by the district's capital fund, to which the state did not allocate any new funds for classrooms or new construction. While this will impact future construction projects, the new schools slated to be built off Hexam Road are still going through as planned.

"We're all going to have to work together as a family to make this happen," board member Pat Fagan told his colleagues. "We could have additional cuts as early as November, and we need to make sure we can do this."

Revenues from the district's general fund - used for day-to-day expenses - decreased by $1.7 million. The majority of the decrease is from the Florida Education Finance Program, which is the state's funding program for public schools.

Already this summer, the district saved an estimated $2.14 million by cutting 54 teaching positions and 28 instructional aids, primarily through attrition.

Another avenue for savings was Superintendent Wayne Alexander's revamped reorganization plan, in which he saved the district more than $295,000 in anticipated costs by eliminating initially-recommended positions, including several departmental directors. Work has since been redistributed between other district leaders.

In utility costs, implementing a four-day work week this summer and winter break saved the district $170,000, and dropping the cost of materials-per-student from $50 to $40 saved the district an estimated $227,000.

The district also decided only to purchase two new propane school buses this year, instead of the 20 busses they have typically purchased in past years, Bruggink said.

The district's situation could get worse, with threats of an additional 2 percent reduction in revenue from the state coming in November.

Locally, that translates to an estimated $3.3 million that the district will likely have to slice from its 2008-09 budget or the district's "rainy day fund," with additional cuts expected following a special state legislative session in November.

Also, the enrollment projected for the district is still down, with 22,747 students attending as of Sept. 16, as opposed to the state's projected 23,068. At $3,998 in state funding for each student, that would equal a shortfall in revenue for the district of $1,283,358.

"The foreclosures and unemployment rate of our county (most likely) contributed to families moving out of the county to find work, and that's contributing to the decline in enrollment numbers," Bruggink said.

Board Vice chairman Jim Malcolm was out of town and could not attend the meeting.

Reporter Linnea Brown can be reached at 352-544-5289 or lbrown@hernandotoday.com.

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