001I'll call this meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. We will start with a roll call for the record. I'm chair Carmen Sutton and I'm present. When I call your name, please indicate if you are present. Uh Vice Chair Upson. Present. Board member Anderson. Present. Board member Herndon. Absent. Board member Area. Present. Thank you. The purpose of the budget hearing is for the public to provide feedback on the tentatively adopted budget. This hearing is similar to public comment at our monthly board meeting. Therefore, members of the board will not address persons commenting or speaking to the substance of any comments made during the budget hearing. Instead, a member of the administrative team will follow up with persons commenting or asking questions. All questions and feedback will be taken into consideration prior to adopting the FY '27
002final budget on June 2nd. Dr. Broom, please proceed with the budget hearing presentation. Good evening, Chair Dr. Sutton, Vice Chair Upson, and esteemed members of the board. We're presenting our political Superintendent Both of you on the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, including the budget development process, major revenue and expenditure categories and funding, strategic investment, and next steps before final adoption of the budget and millage rate. The budget hearing also gives the community and all stakeholders an opportunity to provide verbal feedback and comments on the fiscal year 2027 tentative budget. Georgia State Law Code 20-2-167.1 specifies that each school governing board shall hold at least two public meetings for the purpose of providing an opportunity for public input on this proposed annual operating budget. Our public meetings with budget discussions satisfy this requirement. The district has
003held approximately 21 public meetings on the budget. The community has been actively engaged in the budget process and has submitted over 100 comments via the budget link, which remains open throughout the year. Additionally, budget presentations have taken place in over 12 board meetings and two board committee meetings, which consisted of open dialogue. Today, I present to you the fiscal year 2027 tentative budget for all funds. As we move forward through tonight's presentation, it is important to remember that the fiscal fiscal year 2027 budget is grounded in the district's strategic accelerators. The goal throughout this process has been to develop a fiscally responsible budget that aligns with the district's strategic priorities, while continuing to support high-quality educational opportunities for all students. Our goal every financial decision was made with the intent of supporting student success, strengthening
004organizational effectiveness, cultivating high-quality professionals, and maintaining and engaging an inclusive culture throughout the district. The budget process is aligned directly with strategic accelerator four, organizational effectiveness and excellence through financial transparency. The development of the fiscal year 2027 budget has been a transparent and collaborative process that began in the fall of 2025. Throughout the year, the district held multiple work sessions, board discussions, community meetings, and presentations regarding budget priorities, compensation, allotment guidelines, financial projections, and strategic initiatives. In addition, the district continued to gather community input through the district website and public comments. The board adopted the tentative budget and tentative millage rate at the May board meeting. Tonight's hearing represents the first of two required public budget hearings. The second hearing will take place on May 27th, followed by final budget adoption scheduled for June 2nd.
005The budget hearings ensure transparency and community engagement before any budget is adopted. At this point, I will provide an overview of the district's tentative budget for the various operating funds, including school nutrition, special revenue, East Block, and the general fund. The school nutrition budget is the first of the four budgets. Fiscal year 2017 tentative expenditures are approximately $4 million. The projected revenue is approximately $3.4 million, which means to balance the budget, the general fund must supplement the school nutrition budget by an amount not to exceed $881,361. If all of the supplement is not used, the funds will remain in the general fund. The school nutrition program is required to have a fund balance equivalent to a minimum of 3 months of operating expenditures, which equates to approximately $1 million. The school nutrition budget will be
006utilized to fund personnel salaries and benefits and operational costs for the school nutrition program. The details of the school nutrition budget have been presented to the board at previous boards. Special revenue funds is the second of the four budgets the board approved. The special revenue budget consists of grant funds not budgeted in the general fund. Grant funds are received primarily from the federal and state government. The district is anticipating a minimum of approximately $2.5 million in grant funds. The district receives state funds from the lottery for free case federal funds for a variety of grants, including titles, IDEA, JROTC, and Perkins. Grant funds can only be used for the specific purpose they were awarded and are budget neutral in that expenditures equal revenue. When expenditures do not equal revenue, the general fund supplements the difference,
007as shown by the $336,000 $340 transfer in for the pre-K program. The The details of the special revenue budget have been presented to the board at previous board meetings and work sessions. Capital funds and E-SPLOST is the third of the four budgets the board approved. Capital funds consist of E-SPLOST funds received from the 1 cent sales tax for local purchases in DeKalb County. Total expenditures for fiscal year 2017 for the E-SPLOST is projected at approximately $8.5 million. So, the So, the revenue is anticipated at $12 million, which which consists of approximately $7 million from E-SPLOST 6% 100,000 from interest and approximately $5.4 million from fiscal year 2016 projected ending fund balance. E-SPLOST funds can only be used for capital projects, textbooks, band instruments, E-SPLOST funds cannot be used for personnel expenses. The details of the
008E-SPLOST budget have been presented to the board at previous boards. The fourth board approved is the general fund. The general fund is the district's primary and largest operating budget. Major revenue sources are taxes and state funds. The local taxes are based on a 4% net tax increase from fiscal year 2016 and a 20.30 millage rate, which remains the same as this year's millage. Local other consists of locally generated revenue such as tuition for the ECLC, tuition from non-resident K-5 students, facility rentals, athletic taxes, and surplus sales. State revenue are funds received from the Quality Basic Education Program, also referred to as QBE. The revenue is based primarily on student enrollment and schedule. Total anticipated revenue for the fiscal year 2017 in the budget is 113 million and 77 and 775 dollars. Fiscal year 2017 expenditures
009are projected to be 120 million 1,821 dollars. Included in these expenditures are a minimum of a 3% cost of living increase for all employees and a step increase. Both salary and operational expenses are included in this budget. Highlighted in yellow is the total revenue and total expenditures. Expenditures are approximately 6.7 million dollars more than revenue, which means this amount would need to be deducted from the fund balance to balance the budget, as shown highlighted in blue in the table to the right. The projected ending fund balance is 13.7 million dollars, highlighted in yellow on the table to the right. Our 11.45% of expenditures based on a millage rate of 20.30. Florida policy DCA requires the fund balance percentage between 4 and 15%. This slide reflects the district's millage rate history from 2016 to present. In
010the last 11 years, the millage rate was 18.66 at the lowest in 2016 to the 2019 and 21 at the highest in 2022 to 2023. Fiscal year 2017 is the millage rate is 20.30. The millage rate fluctuates based on the economy and needs of the district. This slide provides an early estimate of the potential fiscal impact on property owners based on preliminary tax digest growth projections. Based on a millage rate of 20.30 and a tax digest growth of 4.99% for property with a value of $600,000. This will increase property tax annually by $304 as shown highlighted in green. But if $100,000 of property value, property owners will see an annual increase of $51. This slide provides a consolidated overview of all district funds in a fiscal year 2017 in the budget. The total fiscal year
0112017 budget for all funds is $134,679,376. Fiscal year 2017 budget highlights are increases in employee health care and TRS, minimum 3% salary increase for all employees, staff increases for eligible employees, investment in early childhood education, tuition for non-resident students grades K through 5, maintaining a fund balance within the board policy EC air range, packages and signing our teachers and paraprofessionals, decrease of four central office staff, increase of five school level staff, a pre-K pre-K through 12 instructional reserve. The fiscal year 2017 budget is intentionally aligned with the district strategic accelerators and the board's fiscal year 2017 adopted and approved budget priorities to ensure that financial resources directly support the district's long-term goals while maintaining fiscal responsibility. Next steps for the fiscal year 2017 budget, the second public budget hearing is scheduled for May 27th. Final
012approval of the budget will occur on June 2nd at the regular board meeting. Three public meeting break here two on June 11th at 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. and the third meeting on June 22nd at 5:00 p.m. followed by the final adoption of the property tax military at 5:25 p.m. The budget book will be printed and available for public review by the end of August. The budget feedback link remains remains an option for providing feedback. The link can be scanned using this barcode and it's located on the district's main and finance web page. This concludes the fiscal year 2017 budget hearing presentation. Thank you, Dr. Brewer, for the presentation. Do we have any public comment? No. No. Okay. Motion to adjourn? Thank you for attending the budget hearing. The board's next budget hearing will be
013held on Tuesday, May 27th at 11:00 11:00 a.m. At 11:00 a.m. at the Wilson Center. This meeting is adjourned at 6:13 p.m. Thank you.