Monday, July 16, 2007

First budget draft presented by Lancaster ISD

By Richard Griesman

The first draft of the LISD budget for the school year 2007-2008 was presented by Dr. Lewis to the Board of Trustees at a workshop on July 12. The presentation was given to the Board with the use of an overhead projector and Power Point. The public was not given copies of the presentation, therefore, this report will be limited to a few notes and memory recall.

The preliminary and unofficial taxable value of the district will increase by about 15%. The projected tax rate was $1.0147 per $100 property valuation for Maintenance & Operations. The Bond tax rate was $0.39 per $100, but there was little discussion about that rate. The total General Fund income will be about $46 million and a total of about $61 million for all funds combined.

There was a 3% projected raise for all the staff. An equity increase of about $11,000 was projected for the police officers. The opening of the East Campus (Westridge) was to be delayed for one year. Preparation will be made for a bond election for May 2008. The projected expenditures exceeded revenues but Dr. Lewis said they would be working on the differences this past weekend.

One item in particular caught my attention. Prior to the May 2006 bond election, Dr. Lewis told the Board of Trustees that all of the $110 million, from the 2004 bond election, was spent. Then in January of this year the Board of Trustees approved the expenditure of $7 million in bond projects.

There are some interesting numbers listed under the Capital Project Fund (bond money). There is revenue of $960,000 and a projected balance as of September 1, 2007 of $13,131,949 for a total of $14,091,949. There is also a reserve of $500,000 from the sale of land in September 2006. If all the bond money has been spent, what is the source of this additional bond money for these capital projects?

This reporter has a suggestion for spending this $14.5 million. The suggestion would be to build one new elementary school (not a replacement) and a new maintenance/service facility. The new elementary school would allow Lancaster Elementary to return to being a middle school and the East Campus to be used as an elementary school. With these additional buildings, there would be no need for another bond election.

There will be another budget workshop on July 16 at 7:00 pm at the LISD board room. Remember that all numbers from this first budget draft are preliminary projections and may change in the final budget.

This story was written by a member of the Pegasus News community

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