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Southeast Fountain School Corp presents largely hold‑steady 2025 budget, warns of tight cash and plans bond‑funded projects
Summary
District staff presented a 2025 budget built on 2024 allocations with added salary funding; officials said the district remains "really, really tight," will request an additional appropriation at the next board meeting and expects bond payments to lower the tax rate toward about $0.33 per $100 of assessed value.
The Southeast Fountain School Corp presented its proposed 2025 budget at a public hearing, saying the document closely tracks 2024 allocations but shifts additional dollars into salary lines for certified and noncertified staff.
Renee Howell, the presenter, described the process used to build the proposal and listed staff and consultants who reviewed it, saying the state’s enrollment estimates and two required count days drive the education fund calculation. "We start with what you approved for 2024," Howell said, adding officials adjusted salary lines after new state projections arrived.
The budget includes an operations fund for maintenance, transportation and nonclassroom staff and an education fund restricted to student-related expenditures. Howell emphasized that funds cannot be moved arbitrarily between those accounts, though internal reallocations within a fund are possible.
The district’s debt worksheet, prepared by the district treasurer, shows outstanding general obligation bonds including a 2023 series used for pool work and a 2017 issue still being paid. Howell said proposed debt payments are intended to bring the tax rate "back where we want it to, right around that 33¢." The district also identified a $500,000 annual rainy‑day deposit as a goal when revenues permit.
Officials said higher‑than‑expected 2024 enrollment produced additional revenue that was placed into salary lines, but the district will still ask the board for an additional appropriation at its next meeting to cover payroll through December. Howell characterized the district’s near‑term cash position as "really, really tight." "We will be asking for that additional appropriation," she said.
The capital projects plan lists recurring maintenance items — carpeting, masonry repair, parking‑lot paving and landscape work — and longer‑term items tied to bond proceeds including stadium lighting, emergency radio upgrades and a possible press‑box renovation. The bus replacement plan remains an estimate; staff said the district sometimes trades retired buses or sells them to private buyers when trade‑in values are poor, and may purchase in advance when prices rise.
Questions from board members and members of the public ranged from how traded buses are disposed of to the proposed tax‑rate figures. Participants mentioned different estimates in the discussion (figures referenced in the hearing included "30.35," an estimate described in the presentation as targeting about 33¢, and alternate values voiced by participants); Howell said the district will confirm final numbers before adoption.
The board is scheduled to consider adoption at its October 10, 2024 meeting; if adopted the budget will be posted to the state Gateway site and the district website.
