In light of the Idaho Legislature's consideration of property tax reforms, the proposed 2006-2007 Blaine County School District budget reallocates funds to defensively position the school district against possible change.
"The (school district's) revenue was redistributed in anticipation for some sort of property tax relief bill coming in the Legislature," Blaine County School District Treasurer Mike Chatterton said.
The district's governing board will meet Tuesday, June 13, to take public comment and consider approving an approximately $70,481,381 budget. The proposed budget is about 11 percent higher than last year's $63 million budget.
The proposed General Maintenance and Operating Fund for the coming school year comes to just over $50,176,000, accounting for the majority of the operating budget. The money would come from two basic sources: state income and sales tax revenues and local property taxes.
The general budget contains a nearly $5.9 million dollar increase in local tax revenue. The increase comes from a transfer of the school plant facility fund and the bond interest fund to the general fund. The two funds were previously collected in other funds separate from the general budget. The monies will be collected in the general fund and then separated out to make payments.
Chatterton said the changes would be a dollar to dollar change that will not impact Blaine County property taxes. He said the changes are proposed to better position the district against possible property tax reform.
"The proposal they had this year was to cap the amount of money we could bring into the general fund," Chatterton said.
Chatterton said the district has the ability to levy close to $6 million more than it will for this year. The shifting of funds, without a change in taxes, places the district's general fund closer to its possible levy limit. If the legislature froze the general fund levy, the district would be in better strategic position to accommodate changes in educational funding.
Transfers aside, the overall increase in the general budget is just over 5 percent.
"Really, the total increase in our budget is the opening of Woodside Elementary," Chatterton said.
Woodside Elementary, a new Hailey-based school, is slated to open this fall. The opening of the school requires the hiring of a school principal, a secretary, three custodians, a social worker, an art teacher, a music teacher, a physical education teacher, a kindergarten teacher and a fifth-grade teacher.
The cost to open the school is $1.15 million, with some of the expenses, like a computer lab and a library, one-time expenses Overall the school is expected to cost the district about $900,000 a year.
The opening of a new school limited other proposed expenditures.
"We limited the number of positions we hired because Woodside was going to open. We didn't want to burden the taxpayers. And we didn't start any extra programs like we have done in the past," Chatterton said.
The district will introduce a pilot preschool program that is expected to cost $250,000.
