Fund Balance to bail out SDOC Budget

Preliminary approval was given to the Fiscal Year 2018-2019 Budget for the School District of Oconee County (SDOC) Monday night. Gloria Moore, Finance Director for the SDOC, presented the budget to cover the next school year to the Board of Trustees. “It’s not a balanced budget. It’s a little bit in the red but this may not be the final version. The House and Senate are still working and they have not nailed down exactly what our funding will be from the state yet. The budget that I prepared does have a 2% increase for teachers and other employees. It includes the 1% increase to the employer part of the retirement and the 7% increase to the employer part of our health insurance. We added a couple of other things in this budget. We have two new School Resource Officers and some additional PIP class in each attendance area.” The budget’s revenues are roughly $98 million with expenses about $99.5 million. The plan is to make up that $1.5 million by tapping into the SDOC’s fund balance. Tonight, April 17, the budget will be presented to the Oconee County Budget, Finance and Administration Committee during their 5:30pm meeting in the Oconee County Council Chambers of the Oconee County Administrative Offices at 415 South Pine Street in Walhalla.