{"id":9519,"date":"2014-06-27T10:23:21","date_gmt":"2014-06-27T14:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=9519"},"modified":"2014-06-27T11:02:51","modified_gmt":"2014-06-27T15:02:51","slug":"lowndes-school-board-raises-millage-balances-budget-publishes-summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/lowndes-school-board-raises-millage-balances-budget-publishes-summary.html","title":{"rendered":"Lowndes School Board raises millage, balances budget, publishes summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\r\n\r\nNot two, but three public hearings on the LCBOE higher millage rate,\r\n10 AM and 6 PM on July 15, 6 PM on July 22.\r\nThat rate still puts Lowndes\r\nin the middle of school millage\r\nfor counties statewide.\r\nAnd they published a budget summary before the hearings.\r\n

\r\nKristin Finney wrote for the VDT today,\r\n\r\nLowndes schools approves budget:\r\nSystem ups millage rate<\/a>,\r\npicked up by AP as\r\n\r\nLowndes schools approves budget<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nLowndes County Board of Education unanimously approved a budget\r\nThursday that includes the school system’s first tax increase in a\r\ndecade.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe Fiscal Year 2014-2015 budget also includes two calendar\r\nadjustment days. School employees will have two furlough days, an\r\nimprovement from four days last school year.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAs for the tax increase, the board tentatively approved upping the\r\nmillage rate by 2.2123. This will bring the total millage levied to\r\n16.848.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAs per procedure, the board did not vote to approve the millage\r\nrate. The board will present the millage rates to the public by\r\nhosting three public hearings, two on July 15 at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.,\r\nand one on July 22 at 6 p.m. These hearings will allow the public to\r\nask questions regarding the millage increase.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nFollowing the July 22 meeting, there will be a called meeting at\r\n6:30 p.m. to adopt the millage rate increase.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nHere’s LCBOE’s own PR, by Lynne Wilson, yesterday,\r\n\r\nLowndes County School Board Approves FY2015 Budget<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nThe Lowndes County Board of Education approved a $75,632,633\r\nbalanced general fund budget for the 2014-2015 fiscal year during\r\nits June 26 called board meeting. This is the first balanced budget,\r\nwithout depending on reserves, for Lowndes County Schools since\r\n2009. Decreases in state funding have included a loss to Lowndes\r\nCounty Schools of $54,655,000 in austerity cuts over the last twelve\r\nyears and a decrease of $2.9 million in equalization funding since\r\n2007.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nThe new budget includes an increase in millage rate of 2.2123 and a\r\ndecrease of 2 furlough days for teachers and students. The increase\r\nin millage brings the total millage levied to 16.848, aligning\r\nLowndes County with other school systems in the RESA district. Also\r\nincluded in the budget is a decrease in personnel expenses of over\r\n$1 million, achieved through attrition.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe budget process began in mid February and has been a team effort,\r\ninvolving staff at school and system levels with the needs of\r\nstudents a top priority. During the budget development, cuts were\r\ntaken in areas that did not have direct impact on the instructional\r\nprograms.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nDetailed information and the approved budget will be available under\r\nthe Finance and Human Resources tab on the system website.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nAccording to the Georgia Department of Revenue’s\r\n\r\nTax Digest Millage Rates<\/a>,\r\nthat new rate of 16.848 puts Lowndes at #91 of 158 counties listed\r\n(one is missing), or barely above the median of 16.298.\r\nHere’s how Lowndes compares to surrounding Georgia counties:\r\n

\r\n\r\n
COLQUITT<\/td>8.287<\/td>*<\/td><\/tr>\r\n
BERRIEN<\/td>14.000<\/td>*<\/td><\/tr>\r\n
TURNER<\/td>14.000<\/td>*<\/td><\/tr>\r\n
THOMAS<\/td>14.714<\/td><\/td><\/tr>\r\n
ATKINSON<\/td>14.811<\/td><\/td><\/tr>\r\n
TIFT<\/td>14.964<\/td>*<\/td><\/tr>\r\n
BROOKS<\/td>15.070<\/td>*<\/td><\/tr>\r\n
ECHOLS<\/td>15.500<\/td>*<\/td><\/tr>\r\n
IRWIN<\/td>15.690<\/td>*<\/td><\/tr>\r\n
BEN HILL<\/td>15.739<\/td>*<\/td><\/tr>\r\n
COOK<\/td>16.065<\/td>*<\/td><\/tr>\r\n
LOWNDES<\/th>16.848<\/td>*<\/td><\/tr>\r\n
LANIER<\/td>16.960<\/td>*<\/td><\/tr>\r\n
Valdosta<\/td>16.980<\/td>*<\/td><\/tr>\r\n
BIB<\/td>17.945<\/td><\/td><\/tr>\r\n
DOUGHERTY<\/td>18.445<\/td><\/td><\/tr>\r\n<\/table>\r\n

\r\n* marks counties in the\r\n\r\nCoastal Plains Regional Education Services Agency (RESA) district<\/a>.\r\n<\/center>\r\n

\r\nLowndes is higher than some, but lower than Lanier County and Valdosta,\r\nand quite a bit lower than Bibb and Dougherty County schools.\r\nSo much for consolidated school districts being less expensive.\r\n

\r\nHere’s LCBOE’s budget summary in\r\n\r\nPDF<\/a>.\r\nPlus here’s an HTML table version:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nLowndes County Board of Education\r\nFY 2015 Original Budget\r\nJuly 1, 2014 – June 30, 2015\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n
<\/th>\r\n General Fund <\/th>\r\nSpecial Revenue Funds<\/th>\r\n Capital Project Funds<\/th>\r\n Total <\/th>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
\r\nEstimated Revenues:\r\n<\/th><\/tr>\r\n
   Local Revenues\r\n$25,997,154.00\r\n$2,130,432.00\r\n$11,023,200.00\r\n$39,150,786.00\r\n
   State Revenues\r\n49,273,489.00\r\n 3,814,278.00\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 53,087,767.00\r\n
   Federal Revenues\r\n341,990.00\r\n 8,490,905.00\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 8,832,895.00\r\n
   Other Sources\r\n20,000.00\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 6,746.00\r\n 26,746.00\r\n
Total Estimated Revenues\r\n$75,632,633.00\r\n$14,435,615.00\r\n$11,029,946.00\r\n$101,098,194.00\r\n
Estimated Expenditures:\r\n
   Instruction\r\n$52,654,452.00\r\n$5,265,737.00\r\n$200,479.00\r\n$58,120,668.00\r\n
   Pupil Services\r\n2,660,051.00\r\n 1,163,271.00\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 3,823,322.00\r\n
   Improvement of Instruction\r\n1,100,800.00\r\n 1,542,203.00\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 2,643,003.00\r\n
   Media Services\r\n1,285,828.00\r\n–<\/td>\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 1,285,828.00\r\n
   General Administration\r\n1,050,707.00\r\n 98,268.00\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 1,148,975.00\r\n
   School Administration\r\n4,248,220.00\r\n 282,547.00\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 4,530,767.00\r\n
   Business Support Services\r\n843,705.00\r\n–<\/td>\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 843,705.00\r\n
   Maintenance & Operation\r\n6,327,225.00\r\n 76,867.00\r\n 164,000.00\r\n 6,568,092.00\r\n
   Student Transportation\r\n4,731,176.00\r\n 203,636.00\r\n 772,819.00\r\n 5,707,631.00\r\n
   Central Support Services\r\n730,469.00\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 1,620,050.00\r\n 2,350,519.00\r\n
   Other Support Services\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 68,762.00\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 68,762.00\r\n
   School Nutrition Services\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 5,734,324.00\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 5,734,324.00\r\n
   Facilities Acquisition & Imp.\r\n–<\/td>\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 402,918.00\r\n 402,918.00\r\n
   Other Uses\r\n–<\/td>\r\n–<\/td>\r\n 7,869,680.00\r\n 7,869,680.00\r\n
Total Estimated Expenditures\r\n$75,632,633.00\r\n$14,435,615.00\r\n$11,029,946.00\r\n$101,098,194.00\r\n \r\n
Excess of Revenues Over (Under) Expenditures\r\n$-<\/td>\r\n$-<\/td>\r\n$-<\/td>\r\n$-<\/td>\r\n
Estimated Fund Balance – July 1, 2014\r\n$2,064,261.00\r\n$1,460,000.00\r\n$12,011,456.00\r\n$15,535,717.00\r\n
Estimated Fund Balance – June 30, 2015\r\n$2,064,261.00\r\n$1,460,000.00\r\n$12,011,456.00\r\n$15,535,717.00\r\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\r\n

\r\nThe Lowndes County School System Budget for 2014-2015 was approved for final adoption by the board at\r\n6:00 p.m., June 26, 2014 at the Board of Education office, 1592 Norman Drive, Valdosta, GA.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Not two, but three public hearings on the LCBOE higher millage rate, 10 AM and 6 PM on July 15, 6 PM on July 22. That rate still puts Lowndes in the middle of school millage for counties statewide. And they published a budget summary before the hearings. Kristin Finney wrote for the VDT today, […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14,8,2,1105,3],"tags":[381,8704,8701,8699,8702,8815,12,7,1620,1247,722,8700,6],"class_list":["post-9519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-georgia","category-government","category-lcboe","category-transparency","tag-budget","tag-economy","tag-georgia","tag-government","tag-lake","tag-lcboe","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-board-of-education","tag-millage","tag-public-hearing","tag-transparency","tag-valdosta"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-2tx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9519"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9539,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9519\/revisions\/9539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}