Commission Rejects School Debt- Relief Solution

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

The Franklin County Commission Finance Committee rejected the school board’s proposal for addressing the 2015–16 budget shortfall, the board learned at its June 8 meeting.

In May, the Franklin County Commission asked the school board how it could help address the $1.6 million shortfall projected for 2015–16. The board subsequently passed a debt-relief resolution that would relieve the school system from repaying debt from the operating budget, with the debt instead repaid from sales tax revenue designated for that purpose.

The school board expected that the resolution would be approved by the county commission Finance Committee.

In the budget approved by the board on June 1, the revenue shortfall was $659,000 less than in the previous draft. The new budget took into account accepting a $35,000 bid for the sale of the old Oak Grove School and removing $510,000 in debt-service payments from the budget, contingent upon the Franklin County Commission accepting the debt relief resolution.

The resolution requested that the Franklin County Commission relieve the school system from making payments from its operating budget on the debt for the new high school ($250,000 annually) and the $3 million bond ($260,000 annually) and that those debts be repaid with sales tax revenue already earmarked for school system debt service repayment.

Based on the past four years, director of schools Rebecca Sharber estimated the 2015 sales tax revenue earmarked for debt-service repayment at $552,648.

The Finance Committee of the county commission not only denied the debt-relief resolution, Caroland said, but decreased the portion of property tax revenue allocated to the school system. The property tax revenue amount was reduced by 6.5 percent compared to the 2014 allocation. Caroland provided statistics showing that since 2011 the percentage of property tax allocated to the schools has decreased, while the assessed value of property, and therefore property tax revenue, has increased.

“I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know this,” said county commissioner Dave Van Buskirk. The Finance Committee prepares a budget and presents it to the commission for approval, Van Buskirk said. The full commission does not participate in the budgeting process.

“We need a special called meeting with the county commission,” Caroland said.