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Waco Independent School District employees will receive a 2 percent pay raise next year after the board of trustees included the bump in the 2016-17 fiscal year budget and tax rate approved Thursday. Chief Financial Officer Sheryl Davis said the board of trustees has worked on the budget since March. The budget focused on several areas of needs in the district, including instructional support, retention and communication, Davis said. The budget includes several new positions and expanded the district’s credit recovery program. She said as part of the district’s effort to keep, attract and retain employees, the budget includes a 2 percent pay raise across the board and an increase in starting teacher pay. She said the budget also includes an increase in the recruiting department’s funding. The district also will increase its contribution to group health insurance from $300 a month to $350 per month. The contribution was $285 in fiscal year 2014-15. The general fund for the year will be $139,482,551; the child nutrition fund will be $9,631,913; and the debt service fund will be $14,546,796. The board approved keeping the tax rate the same as last year, at $1.40 per $100 of property value. The maintenance and operation portion of the tax rate is $1.17, and the debt service rate is 23 cents. The average homeowner will see an increase in property taxes of $56.55 because of increases in appraised values. As property values rise across the state, school districts are receiving more revenue, and because of that, the amount received from the state is decreasing, Davis said. Two years ago, the district was receiving 58 percent of its revenue from the state, but this coming year, the district will receiving 53 percent of its revenue from state sources, she said. President Pat Atkins said the way the district is dipping into its fund balance is not sustainable. Atkins said as the school board moves forward he wants to have more open meetings to address expenditure requests and ensure the fund balance doesn’t take such a large hit next year. Atkins said the budget includes about a $6 million increase in expenditures over the previous year. “Looking ahead, we may want to consider a process where more of those requests are brought to the board formally,” he said. The district has a policy to keep a fund balance equal to 20 percent of its expenditures. With $139 million in expenditures this year, the fund balance required by the policy would be $28 million, but the district has a larger balance. Davis said the dip into the fund balance Atkins referred to is about $3 million, bringing the fund balance down to $31.5 million, still above the 20 percent mark. Board member Allen Sykes agreed with Atkins and said the district may have to find ways to trim where possible moving forward. Sykes said he is confident the district will do everything it can to stay ahead of the curve. Board member Larry Perez asked what the biggest cost is for the district. Salaries, Davis replied. “It’s probably a bigger percentage than it’s ever been,” she said. Also at the meeting, the district chose to keep its contract with Coca Cola instead of switching to Dr Pepper. The board agreed to renew its beverage agreement with Waco Coca Cola through August 2017 after a request for proposals for an exclusive beverage contract with the district. Two proposals were submitted. American Bottling Company, which does business as Dr Pepper Bottling Company of Waco, submitted a proposal, but the district chose Waco Coca Cola’s proposal. Also Thursday, the board selected a vendor, Vending Truck Inc., to provide the district with custom food trucks. The Child Nutrition Department uses school buses to provide mobile food services, but the bus engine is not designed to handle the load required for the food services, staff reported. New trucks will allow the department to cover the summer feeding program and expand services to meet district needs by providing additional food service options to both high schools and to catering events in the district. Two trucks will be purchased for more than $390,600. The New Jersey-based vendor provided a 4 percent discount because the district bought two trucks at once. |
