001All right. Um, we have our finance, facilities, and transportation report from Miss. I'm going to start with the presentation up on the screen. So, last month we talked about our expenditures and our cost containment. This time we're going to look at the revenue sources in the budget and to as much of our knowledge as we have right now which is February so we don't have all the numbers just yet. Um our best estimate as to where we are. So I'll try to move through this quickly in the essence of time but also give it the attention that it deserves. Um so tax levy represents 85% of our budget. That is the biggest um revenue source for us. We also receive state aid in the approximate 7% range. Out of district tuition for students attending our
002programs. other miscellaneous revenue which um encompasses interest income that we receive. Um student parking fees that we used to have and other items such as facility rentals. Also budgeted fund balance is something that carries from two budget years prior. We're able to carry into this future budget year. I'll get a little bit more into that on a future slide just so that I can clarify that and what that means. So tax levy, we do have a 2% tax levy cap that was enacted in 2010. There are exclusions to that tax levy cap and those are for health benefit cost increases that exceed 2% mostly relying on the state health benefit plan and if that goes up exceedingly high the state does allow us to use um an adjustment for that. Uh pers pension contributions increases
003that are over 2%. Any significant enrollment increases if we have unused taxing capacity or bank cap that's something that you can go over the 2% to use. and also a separate proposal such as a second question on um a voter ballot. Also, there's debt service tax revenue. That's something in addition to normal general fund revenue. That's typically just for a referendum vote. So, if the voters vote through a referendum specifically for capital projects, there will be a debt service assessment on their tax bill. So, this is the historical tax levy chart for the past several years. Um the blue bar is the general fund balance. So that's our operating budget for the district. And the small piece at the top that's orange reddish color. That is for a prior year referendum. That was back in
0042016. There was debt service issued for several capital projects. There is a link on this slide that'll be posted online that if you want to see what we did with that money. The taxpayer share was 6.8 million and then the state aid was 2.9. And that 15-year debt service payment will continue until 2032. You see there are three years there that there is a debt service adjustment. I'll get a little bit into that on the next slide, but we were able to use the debt service success of the referendum, which was we were able to complete projects less than the cost of what we had originally anticipated. So, we had um the cost of those projects come in less than what we originally thought. We were able to take that money and return it back
005to the taxpayers for those three budget years to offset their tax bill. So on this slide you'll see kind of our historical um general fund increases as well as kind of the net impact on the tax bills. If you were with the board back during that time you'll remember we actually increased the general fund budget those three subsequent years after 2020 2021 2.8 2.83 3.33. However, their actual tax bill only felt a net effect of the 1.6 1.68 and 2.2 2 and that's the refund of that capital project u money that was remaining in our debt service fund to be able to offset that additional debt service assessment that they had on their tax bill. So again in 2020 2021 we used the bank cap since it was a 0% increase and we use that
006in the subsequent three budget years. Hopefully that makes sense. I can always clarify that a little bit more if you're needing clarification. So, state aid funding over the past several years, the S2 bill was enacted in 2018 and we've felt the significant impact of S2 in this district. So, what it did was took adjustment aid for districts and either adjusted you down or it adjusted you up. So, there were districts that were underfunded got the adjustment aid increase. Our district was adjusted down um and we felt a severe impact of that too. So you can see in 2018 2019 we originally were receiving about $5.5 million per year for state aid and now currently in the year that we have right now 2526 it's $1.7 million less than we were receiving um those eight years
007ago. So again that's that's a year-over-year impact. Um so still feeling that today budgeted fund balance. So what does that mean and why do we have fund balance carrying into this current budget year? School districts are permitted to maintain unassigned fund balances um which is surplus up to 2% of the total budget. That's a healthy district. You should have a 2% um unassigned surplus. Anything exceeding that 2% threshold during your annual audit, you can take in as revenue in a succeeding budget year. Um so the audit that closed at the 2025 630 of 2025 we're able to take into this 2627 budget. Um so that was established and set at the end of that audit. So what does it mean to balance a school budget? Um the revenues have to equal appropriations. Districts cannot run
008deficit. And right now what we're looking at as far as moving forward in the next budget process is waiting for state aid. Um, so the reference on the first bullet point is referring to the governor. Now, there's legislation on the desk of the governor to extend the state aid timeline to two additional weeks. So, she's allowed to have two additional weeks to determine what state aid will be for districts. So, unfortunately, I will not have firm numbers for the board most likely until the week before our preliminary budget in March. And all of that kind of moves through this timeline. So, as soon as we get stated the week before the 20th, we will be presenting the board with the preliminary budget with all of those final numbers and then all of that leads up
009to the annual budget hearing at the April meeting. >> Was the state aid last year I can't remember if it was less more I felt like it was a little bit more than we thought it was going to be. >> We always expect three scenarios less the same or more. Usually, it's about the same. Last year, we received a very incremental increase. not significant. So this is just a summary of where we are today building the budget. Again, these are estimated numbers. All of these are subject to change. Um but right now approximately on the left hand side, the left bar, the revenues are expected to decrease about $500,000. Um this is due to this green bar is steady and is currently expected to be flat. However, this component is unknown and will be released
010the second week of March. Um, we do expect a $100,000 decrease in extraordinary aid revenue. That's for the special education students that rise above a certain threshold of cost. The small blue bar is miscellaneous revenues. Um, projected to decrease approximately $120,000 due to decreased revenue streams such as parking fees and facility rental fees. The small yellow bar is tuition. Again, we're still looking at that lefth hand column. Um, students attending our programs. Gray bar is the budgeted surplus. And then the blue bar is a tax levy base. So again, we have a health benefit adjustment that I'm going to get into a little bit more on the next slide available to the district currently due to the severe increase in health benefits this year. So let's start looking at the right side, the appropriations. The
011black bar is assuming that all of our budgetary expenditures are assumed to be equal for next year. Um all of the increases for the main three budget drivers, salaries, benefits, and transportation are the yellow bar is salaries. Assuming that that increases 3.4% which is moving with the current salary guide and um collective bargaining unit um agreement, that's $1.4 million increase for us. The green bar is benefits. That's increasing by 20% or $1.6 million. That is staggering for our budget. and the brown bar is transportation assuming a $674,000 increase. So again, assuming everything is everything else is the same in the budget, just those three budget drivers is $3.7 million increase. So I want to point out one thing since Katie heads us up. The um health benefit increase is $1.6 million. If we use the
012health benefit adjustment for the tax levy, that comes out to 1.4. So, it doesn't quite pay for the health benefit increase, but it comes close to it. >> Say that part. Can you say that again, Rich? >> So, the appropriate health benefit increase is going to be $1.6 million. >> How do we know that? >> Because we've already our B already told us. We have our numbers for 20. It's a 20% increase next year on our health. >> You confirmed? >> Yes. >> Cuz he when he first came in, his numbers were wild. Like his his variance. >> That was a few months ago. >> Yeah. That's why this is the first time. >> Absolutely. So I think he had gone as high as >> so there are districts I know of that are are
013getting 40% increase >> 20% is insane to me but it is a lot so much better than what I'm hearing from my colleagues. Um so we're actually I hate to even say the word fortunate to have a 20% increase but that's and again health care you're going to hear a lot about healthcare in the next month and two months really. Um it is the driving factor as to you know what's going to motivate what's going to drive this budget and whether or not we're going to um maintain what we have in our district is whether or not we want to spend money on healthcare >> and and actually I shouldn't say we don't have a choice but spend money on healthcare. It's going to be determined whether or not we want to cut something to
014pay for that or we want to raise the tax levy to pay for it. Those are the two options and there'll be more about that coming. I just wanted to point that out because I thought this slide just it was it was so easy for me to see those two numbers, right? And to see them side by side and see how they match up. So the purpose of this slide is to give everyone kind of a holistic view of all the anticipated revenues, the anticipated appropriations, but also taking into account the revenue side has the health benefit adjustment embedded in it. And even still, there's a $1.6 million gap. So even taking the maximum taxing authority that we have right now, we have a $1.6 million gap. >> Go ahead. Go ahead. um the that
015uh extra.59% that's what that line item is that >> the 2.59% is a health benefit adjustment that's available for us to use. >> But it is it is the tax levy going from 2 to 2.59 or 2 to 4.59. >> It would be 4.59. >> So again, let me just go one more slide. So, here's the different scenarios that I wanted to play out on the screen for everyone's understanding. If we go up the 4.59%, that's a $1.6 million budget cap. That's on the far right. If we go up 2%, which you can do, we have a $3 million budget gap. If you decide to go 0%, it would be 4 almost 2 million. >> So, we have to cut no matter what is what it comes down to. just about how deep we have
016to cut. It's really what I'm >> I think we've had several conversations in past finance and facility and transportation committees of the fiscal cliff and what other county districts are seeing versus us. And we always knew it would it would come but we were trying to hedge as long as possible with this health benefit increase. >> It's happening now if we don't take if we if we don't take what's available. >> The cliff has been accelerated dramatically because of the healthare cost. that that is really the again if you take that 1.6 off of here and then we went up if you took that off the 2% gap right we would then still have to cut 1.5 million um but we have to cut that anyway even at a 4.5 4.59% increase. So again the
017the healthcare is the piece that is causing this issue right now. >> Can you go to the previous slide briefly and Let me just understand the number. So 2.59% of something is 1.4 million, but 2% of something else is 57 million. >> So the tax levy base with the 2% increase. So that's our total aggregate tax levy base with a 2% in it already. >> And then 2.5% >> 2% above. So it's 102% of today's. And this is this is 102% of today's. I hate to make assumptions for the board, but our recommendation as an administration is in in order to bridge the healthc care um wild increase that we're seeing this year is to take the health benefit adjustment and then still find $1.6 million of either savings or adjustments or you know that's
018what we're working on right now. Could you sorry >> y >> my hand um could you just explain this healthc care um benefit that we can take a little bit more? So the state's offering uh where does that come from? Because I don't I don't know if I see >> the only time you can raise taxes above the 2% is if there's those certain um items that qualify. So the state is offering health benefit adjustment to districts, every district. >> Oh, so they're not giving us money. They're saying they're allowing us to raise money. >> I'm sorry. Absolutely. I need that clarification. That makes a lot more sense than I thought they were giving us money. >> Yes. >> They're not adjusting state for that, >> right? They're saying they're they're red they're making an
019exception to their rule. >> The 2010 law um counts us at raising our local tax level by 2% but then based on different um there's enrollment waiverss, there's selfare enrollment waivers, there's um >> yep, what was on the slide? >> The other waivers that we usually don't qualify for anything except for healthcare. Um and last year if you remember we qualified for healthcare it was a um 66% increase. So instead of going 2% we went up 2.66. The 66 was the healthcare waiver. And that's because of how much the healthcare was raised last year. So put that in comparison to the cost of health care being raised this year. Last year I think was 8 or 9%. That's why we're that's why the healthcare waiver is 2.59% above the 2% tax levy. and and that
020the next page I'm sorry get you that that one gets you to a $1.6 million short >> tenative numbers, >> right? >> Yep. >> But >> absolutely >> depending on where falls >> because the healthare waiver you're not going to find that in the coins under the sofa. >> No. No. And and we're we're digging deep already for that. Those will be things that we bring to you um at the future meeting. You know, by the March meeting, we'll have a lot of this figured out. Um but yes, the the 1.6 million is what we have to cut even if we raise the tax 4.59%. >> And and so think about it in in buckets, right? This way I look at it. Um healthcare is 1.6% increase and the waiver gives us 1.4 of that
021back. So we're already in that bucket down 2%. Or 200,000. Um the salary, which is our biggest line item, goes up 3.4%. But we're only able to offset that with 2% of our tax levy, right? So that 1.4% of our budget line is a number that is we already have to make up that number, that 200,000, the increase in transportation, all those things that are above 2%. Anything above anything in our district that is rising in cost above 2% adds up to $1.57 million. >> Right. >> Uh so you mentioned brief, you always look at three scenarios. the three budgets. Is this based off which of the three is this based off of? >> This is based off of assuming flat stating >> the middle one. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Cuz I think that's
022the most likely scenario. >> Okay. >> I think sorry I would I would love to see what that would look like with the other scenarios if that's a possibility enough. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Just for reference, the you chart about how our state aid has been going down was that we are down 1.7ish million dollars over the last five years. >> So the only way >> year over year >> Yeah. Yeah. So the only way state aid will help this is if it goes way back to where it used to be >> 5 years ago. >> If we get an increase in state aid and it's $40,000, that's going to help, but it's going to it's going to close that gap. Instead of being 1.57, it's going to be 1.53. Rich, >> couple things.
023One, hate to say I told you so, but I said this last year that this is where we were going to be, right? Fiscal cliff. I I we saw this isn't a surprise. I said that we were going to be here and and here we are. Um the 3.4 Rich, where where does that number come from? You said on the you said it was 2 plus the 1.4. >> Sure. Salaries are going to go up next year. 3.4% um according to the collective bargaining agreement. >> That's already been negotiated. >> That was negotiated. We have a collective bargain agreement. >> What is the final projected budget expenditures? I I was anticipating to be I I wasn't >> Nothing is final. These are all estimates. >> What is ballpark? I can't read it. >> So you
024want to look at the appropriations >> and if I could make a suggestion that if on these presentations which are which are great if we could name them and link them in the agenda I just can't see it. So, >> so I think this process up till today. >> Yeah, this being the working session obviously gives us the opportunity to get this presentation to digest it and continue to bring questions. So, this will be available for review as of tomorrow. I'm having a hard time seeing you on the screen. >> What we've been doing, again, this is a fairly new process for us as a whole. Um, we put the presentation from last month in the board folder for you all to to be able to um digest more and analyze. Um, and then we
025also the minutes that you approved tonight for last month when those are posted tomorrow, the link for this presentation will be in there for the public as well as part of the minutes. So, because this was presented at a public meeting, it's part of the minutes and that's when the link goes live for the public. >> Okay. So, so the final budget was going to be estimated at what >> it looks like about 70. >> The estimated >> estimated >> revenue is listed there. Again, I don't think I don't know if I have a total. like the totals of the lines but um >> the right hand bar which is the appropriation is >> just over 70 >> and it was about 68 last year right correct there abouts >> 67 >> okay so about
026a $3 million increase for the prior year give or take estimated >> yeah okay um >> I think it's more 3.7 actually >> and again that's just those three largest budget budget drivers increasing >> 3.7% >> so it sounds like the tax levy recommendation is going to come in at almost 5% estimated correct >> if we utilize all taxing authority it would be the 4.5 >> 4.5 so 4% >> that would be the most allowable >> correct >> I can tell you that if the board goes that direction is going to be a revolt from the taxpayer >> because just keep in mind there's also the local side that they're going to get hit from so this is not Um, you're right. Unfort isolated issue, >> every Hunter County district is experiencing the same impact.
027>> Yes. >> No, I I my my thing is that I've been saying for a year now is that this pattern was unsustainable, hence why evidenced by this, right? And when you have enrollment at an all-time low and expenditures at an all-time high, capped at 2%, those lines are never going to go down. And unless you do something differently, you're going to find it to be in that fiscal cliff that we're at right now. Like I said last year, right? So I'm not sure how this gets resolved, but I mean, everyone keeps talking about affordability in New Jersey, affordability, and this is going to go right at the heart of affordability right here. You can't have enrollment at an all-time low with a budget at an all-time high. What's the cost per pupil? What is
028our cost per pupil estimated to be at? that's available on the taxpayers. >> I don't know it. >> So, we can we can talk about that in a future meeting if you'd like. Let me know cost per pupil. >> Andrea had a question. >> Isn't that a gauge of how this isn't that how the gauge is like how districts run like on a cost per pupil? >> It is one way to to to measure a district. I but I I do want to caution that you know looking at those numbers. For instance, if you looked at a um 9 to 12 regional high school district that has one high school and you look at their cost per pupil compared to our district that has two high schools. Um we have a lot of duplication of
029services in those two high schools. You know, we have two completely separate sports teams. We have two completely separate administrations. We have two completely separate custodial crews. We have two completely separate pieces of equipment. I mean, there are just I could roll on and on that maintaining two high schools should be a lot more expensive than maintaining one high school, right? >> That that's not the case. Might we might our per pupil cost be a little higher than a district that has one high school? It might be, but again, that doesn't tell the full story, but it is part of the picture and we can give you some more information. >> One last question because we talked about the raises. Is the 3.4% 4% going to go to um staff that is not collective collectively
030bargained collectively bargained as well. >> That's up to the board, but that's what I would recommend. Yes. >> Okay. Well, >> Andrew, >> I had a question about you mentioned transportation costs are going up as well. Uh could you give a little more background on what drives those transportation costs? >> Yes. Um please. >> We we are seeing anywhere from like 5 to 7% increases of normal runs and I would say a little bit higher on the athletic runs. we've been having those conversations of why they're more expensive. Um, unfortunately with athletics, it's during the time period that most um major bus companies are already doing their K to8 runs, you know, anywhere from that like 2:30 to 3:30, 4:00. So, we typically unfortunately get the vendors that have the capability, but also at the
031highest prices. >> So, we're seeing it more on the athletic supply. >> They're just So, I assume we have a and forgive me if I I don't know, we have a contract. I know we contract our buses out. look at that contract every year or we have a multi-year contract or >> um it is an annual contract with county services. >> Okay. So, you're saying that every year they're kind of raising the prices and we can assume it's everything from I don't know gas going up. They have to pay their drivers more their healthare >> the driver increase is usually what's driving. >> So, we try to increase the um we try to renew the runs at CPI which is usually affordable 1.7 1.8%. But again, if those vendors do not want to renew in
032CPI, we have to go out to bid and a lot of times they do come in much higher. >> Yeah. >> And even CPI, you know, that 1.8 1.9 that adds, >> you know, that's at the 2%, right? So even if they go up to the minimum, that just means that we're keeping pace with that at 2%. >> Right? I forgive me if we've discussed this here in other places, but I know sometimes there are ways to incentivize uh parents to wave their right to a bus seat and that does save us that can save a district money. I >> we have been looking into >> we have been looking for we actually I I hope we'll have a plan by next month, but next month is going to come very quickly when I start
033looking at the calendar, but that will be part of >> I don't know if that moves the needle or not, but >> Well, there there's two factors with that. One is um you know um we eliminated a parking fees you know at one of our meetings um earlier in the year. We're going to try to incentivize students to um not take the bus and maybe if we give a waiver for that, >> right, >> that would incentivize them to not take. But if we can incentivize them and we can calculate that, we can um monetize that. If we can cut one run, one bus run for let's say, you know, a hundred seniors that decide not to that wave their right, um that bus run is worth $50,000 or $55,000 >> a minimum run, right?
034>> Um and if we can save that and the revenue that we don't get from the parking fees that we're not going to get right now anyway, you know, that would offset that and now we have more savings. So, those are things that cut away at that 1.5 million. And so, but we're looking at that from 9 to 12. There might be people that will say, "Yeah, I will wave my right all year because I drive my kid every day. I I drive to work at that time and I drop them off every day." And if you've ever sat outside North Horn in the morning, you know, there's a lot of people that do that. Um, >> right. And I would say that anybody who has a child who participates in after school activities generally
035winds up having to drive their ch pick their child up 90% of the school year. you know and maybe if there was money in it they would shift to some other model of >> you know for yeah so >> just you know there might be some >> transportation waiverss are something that we are going to present to you as one of the options to close that $ 1.57 million gap um it will probably include senior parking and um underassment >> when would we know whether or not these waivers are taken? It would be well after the budget's approved. I mean, >> yes. So, this year it will be after the budget is approved. Um, and and I guess every year it would actually be because if we we can't ask someone now to decide what
036they want to do next year, I mean, we could, but we're probably not going to get a good response. Um, so typically, you know, but what we would do is in subsequent budget years, we would say what was our participation last year? And once we have multiple years under our belt, we can sort of anticipate this is what we're going to save and that's where we can start, you know, taking that money out of the budget for bus runs that we would have typically budgeted for. >> But this this year, if we could gauge transport or participation this coming summer and then, you know, the implementation, then we can kind of gauge for next year's budget cycle. But this this year's budget, >> this year, I think this should be >> and we're trying to
037figure out how we can do this so that somebody doesn't wave, get the money, and then take it back, right? So, it has to be something that we, you know, sort of like an aid loo kind of thing, which is for somebody that, you know, lives within two miles of the district and um decides they don't want to take their busing um or outside two miles, um they actually get paid money back. They they wave their bus fees and um it's usually for private school students, things of that nature. It would be similar to that. At the end of the year, we'd say, "You didn't take a bus seat this entire year, you didn't utilize it, you kept your waiver, and then the person would get the incentive at that point." So, So um my
038question is the $ 1.57 million gap exists with use of maximum taxing authority. Correct. >> Correct. >> So when um I I'm guessing it's coming in March. Um I imagine you're going to give us a budget that includes what your recommended cuts are. Yes. And are those recommended cuts for the 1.57 million or are you also giving us a recommendation for cuts that would be deeper if we were not to use our maximum taxing capacity? >> So we can give you every scenario you'd like. Um so yeah, we we we we will be giving you information in March on what we have already cut to get to the $ 1.57 million reduction. And then we'll also be giving you um scenarios if we want to cut deeper where we would have to hit. >> I
039mean, I do think we have a responsibility to the public if we're going to be raising taxes. >> Absolutely. >> Um so at least I think we should be conversant with um what we've either decided to forgo cutting in order to raise taxes or in order to keep taxes lower what we decided. I think I think we need that if it's if it's not too burdensome for you to do to run more than one scenario. >> No, that's actually part of the presentation that you'll see in March. >> We used to do it in April. We actually have accelerated that to March. Um, you know, the budget timeline, correct me if I'm wrong on some Katie, but um, you know, preliminary budget has to be to the county office by a certain date. So, I
040believe our March board meeting was adjusted. That's why it's so early. So, we can meet three days. It's it's due to the county office by the 20th. our um um action meeting will be on a 17th of March and so we will take action on on a preliminary budget to send down there. That should be um you know what our final budget will be at that point. We can change it between it going to the county and the April when the board will adopt the final budget. Um but we try not to do that because then we have to get county approval again and that is something we try to avoid. So, um, and last year, what we, well, what we've always done typically is we would present a preliminary budget, say, "Here's what we're
041planning on sending to the county office." The board would agree, we'd send it down, and then we would have the presentation to the public in the April meeting, which would be talking about exactly what you're asking for is the the public information. Um, last year, you know, the board decided that we wanted to accelerate that. That's why it's one of our district goals. Um, and so we're doing that budget presentation basically in March. Now, we're still obligated by law to do a budget hearing in April. So, we will continue to have we'll have the major budget presentation in March, a smaller budget presentation in April that will satisfy the um the legalities and then the board will adopt that final budget. But hopefully it does it shouldn't change between March and April >> because Go
042ahead. >> No, no, you see it's actually Brenda's decision. >> Yeah. Well, I didn't see >> Oh, no, no. I I just wanted to uh to his point um uh the most recent data I found was per pupil cost is 19,356 for North Bores but I happen to look at my two districts that I represent and hybrid per cost for their K8s are 20,892 and Lebanon Township is 18,922. So looking at I mean just we're >> yeah again there's there's no numbers I've seen that we are off the charts spending more money than anybody. I mean again if you you have to look be careful what you're comparing to right. Um >> when I look at administrative costs um I look at high school districts that have two high schools and I compare our costs
043against them. There's seven of them in the state. Um I know that because I looked it up once. um you know comparing our administrative costs to somebody that has one high school with 400 students it's not the it's not apples you know it's not the same comparison. But by by doing it per pupil that brings it down like it averages it out. >> Well, it does but sometimes again when you only have 400 students in a school um your per pupil cost can be a lot higher. So in that case we would probably look favorable in that but I wouldn't want to use that to make us look favorable because it's not a fair comparison. Brian, >> can the board agree that uh in terms of this how deep, you know, of scenarios that we
044ask the VA to or office um we're the lower end of that is the 2% levy, not the 0% levy. I mean, we don't put some boundaries on all the different things we're asking the the VA's office to end up doing, but I I would hope that we'd at least agree that a 2% >> we don't want a 0% >> increase >> scenario, right? >> Yeah. That that I mean, we could ask ask them to do it, but why why all those cases that are unlikely? >> I agree with that. >> Yeah. >> So, yeah, we can present those we can prepare those two scenarios. >> Um Okay. I didn't want uh Katie, I don't know what you had in terms of additional slides. Obviously, there's a lot of information here to be shared for
045us to digest to come back to continue the conversation next week. Um uh Katie, I just wanted to so that we can move on to the other items under finance facilities. >> There's two more slides I was going to and I'm not going to I'm not going to um read these and I'm not going to explain them, but um you know, my portion of this is to really look at the the um budget goals. Okay. Okay. So Katie and I talk about the numbers all the time, but budget goals are driven by the strategic plan. So I'll let you read these once we share this presentation with you tomorrow. You can ask me any questions you have on it between then and next week or whenever. Um and then this was a nice little infographic
046that we used our um notebook LM to do which basically took the information from the budget goals and sort of frame that around what our um strategic plan is. And um you know some of the things you'll see that I want to just that I do want to mention you know personnel and retention you know the you know we want we want our staff to stay here. We want our staff to be happy in our district. Um part of that is their compensation. Um that starts with this board. So the tone that this board sets is the the message I have delivered to the staff and that the staff hear and see. And sometimes that is the determination on whether or not somebody stays here, goes somewhere else to make an extra thousand dollar, goes
047somewhere else to make a little less money because they feel like they're valued. Um, but that really does start with this board and I want everyone to make sure they remember that as we're talking about budget cuts. These are not easy decisions. Um, I live in Hunter County. I know what um, taxes are. I actually got my new tax bill today and I am not happy. Um, but I also understand that, you know, my local school district is doing their best to maintain those costs and maintain the programming for students that are going through there. You know, my kids are gone. Um, I want this board to keep that at top of your mind as we are looking at these budget scenarios. Nobody wants to pay more taxes, me included. Um but schools cost money
048and we are we only have so many revenue sources to our um at our disposal as Katie showed you and 85% of that is our tax levy itself.