Residents of North Pike School District can expect a slight property tax increase in order to fund the school system’s $20.1 million budget for the 2015-’16 fiscal year.
Business manager Tina Griffin said at a Monday budget hearing that the proposed budget is similar to what the district adopted last year. Both the current budget, which expires June 30, and the proposed spending plan feature 4 percent increases in local property tax requests.
“When we ask 4 percent, it usually is a slight increase in taxes, but it usually doesn’t make that big of a difference in the big picture,” she said of the effect on property tax bills.
The current millage rate is 42.46 mills. The year before it was 40.19. That was enough of a difference to raise taxes on a $100,000 with regular homestead exemption by about $20.
In all, the district expects to receive some $3.8 million from local sources, the bulk of which come from property taxes. That’s up from the $3.7 million in local revenues for the current budget.
Nearly 66 percent of the budget, $13.3 million, is expected to come from the state, and an expected 13 percent, or $2.6 million, will come from federal sources. An expected 2 percent, or $429,000, will come from 16th Section land funds, and $338,632, a little over 1 percent of revenue, will come from loan proceeds.
Projected expenses total $20 million, up from this year’s $19.9 million.
Salaries and benefits make up nearly $15 million or 75 percent of spending, a 3.5 percent increase from the current year.
Griffin said the increase is due to state-mandated teacher pay raises and the hiring of two additional special education teachers.
Trustee Scott Campbell, one of the two board members present at the hearing, asked if the 3.5 percent increase for salaries will eventually level off.
Superintendent Dennis Penton said that with teacher salaries increasing, the share of the budget devoted to salaries and benefits depends on student growth.
Trustee Kevin Matthew said, “We’re in a (quandary) of what we can do and what we can pay.”
As former middle school students enter high school, the number of textbooks needed is increasing, costing the district $251,920, or a $24,000 increase from the current year.
Matthew voiced concern over how much textbooks are actually used with students engaging more in online literature.
Penton said students still use textbooks, but not as much as they have in the past.
“Textbooks and textbook companies have had a hold on school districts for years,” he said. “Not all of the textbooks in the high school will be replaced, but when you’re paying $75 to $100 or $150 per book, it gets ridiculous.”
Penton said there are no major infrastructure projects included in the budget because the addition of teachers is greatly needed and more positively impacts students.
“The human resource is more important this year to get in place than infrastructure,” he said. “We don’t have safety issues. We have things that need to be done, but so does every other school in Mississippi.”
Penton said the district still has a need for space, but funds have to be placed where they can benefit students most.
He said the district’s wish list is too long to print, but it would start with the addition and renovations to facilities.
“I feel like we’re meeting personnel needs, we have more technology — we’ve done a lot in the last two years,” Penton said.
Matthew said he would love to see more teachers in order to reduce classroom sizes, and Penton said that’s a process the district is working on.
Campbell said as long as student population continues to grow, so will the need for more faculty.
“There are no open classrooms on campus,” Penton said.
