Wednesday, May 12, 2004

BoE promised, ' no bus route surprises' There will be no surprise cutbacks in bus routes, changes in stops or student transportation issues in general when the new school year starts in August in Fayette County. That assurance was given to members of the Board of Education during a special budget workshop meeting last week at which individual department heads began presenting their budget proposals for 2004-05. “Is there anything we should know about reductions in school bus funding by the start of school next year?” asked board member Lee Wright of Deputy Superintendent Fred Oliver, who presented the plan for bus service and maintenance. “No sir, absolutely not,” declared Oliver, filling in for Transportation Director Pam Holt who was at the hospital for the birth of her second grandchild in two weeks. Oliver, Holt, Superintendent John DeCotis and all five board members were caught off guard by angry protests last August when reductions were made to many routes as a cost-saving measure. Though board members technically okayed the cuts when they voted to approve the budget last June, nobody raised concerns at the time about potential fallout from parents. Central Office administrators later admitted they didn’t do a very good job of informing the community about the changes, and reportedly settled every complaint by the time the matter was put to bed in late October. A volunteer committee chosen from a host of applicants spent a month studying the concerns and possible solutions, but disbanded after agreeing to leave the existing policy as is. The $6.15 million transportation budget represents an 8 percent increase over the one that caused so much controversy, or about $453,270. Oliver said the department, which handles fleet maintenance for the entire district, will add about nine employees and lease-purchase 18 vehicles as new or replacements. But the bulk of the increase will go to pay rising fuel costs. Though the district’s buses all run on diesel, they use enough of it to fill two underground storage tanks a couple of times a week, said George Davis, maintenance director. The average price of a gallon of diesel in Atlanta last week was $1.27, according to online sources. DeCotis asked if there would be savings from locking in a fixed price for the whole year. But Davis said the board already buys diesel at cost, paying just to have it trucked to the refueling station behind school board headquarters. Among the other budget requests submitted last week: • Technology Services Director John Lhota, hired last fall, presented his first working budget for consideration. Upgrades to existing hardware and software were among the challenges, he explained, as is consolidating the system’s thousands of computers into one system. In addition, 15 of the county’s “older” schools will get designated “server rooms” next year to handle the new technology. • The Maintenance Department budget as proposed is $1.5 million over last year, Mike Satterfield told the board, nearly all of it going to increased salary and benefits for employees. With Whitewater High nearing completion and projects at McIntosh and Sandy Creek high schools well along, his department will have time to take care of special “individual” school requests next year, Satterfield said. As for the bulk of the working ‘04-’05 operations budget, Finance Director James Stephens said the recent called session of the legislature should provide the final answers on how to make up the red. “There’s a $7.5 million gaping hole there, the difference between revenue and expenses,” Stephens said of the working draft. That deficit alone is about equal to the annual increase in salaries and benefits for 1,871 certified employees, including just 50 new hires planned this summer. But the overall proposed budget as of last week was just $6.553 million over this year’s $149 million, thanks to deep cuts in non-instructional areas and delays in some department requests and capital expenditures, Stephens said. To meet the current $7.5 million shortfall with no additional state funds, Stephens said the board would have to consider a full 1-mill increase on property taxes. A slight increase is also anticipated in the portion of the millage for construction. That would be a worst-case scenario, DeCotis said. “The best thing we have going for us in Fayette County is the tax digest” which grows by about 5 percent each year, DeCotis said. Budget talks will continue at the board’s regular monthly meeting May 17.