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Lee County Supervisors hear school request to use state 50% compensation supplement as way to fund raises amid a $4.1M shortfall
Summary
A school representative told the Lee County Board of Supervisors the district can use a state 'compensation supplement' if the county provides a 50% local match, potentially unlocking about $775,051 for raises; supervisors heard staff warn the county faces roughly a $4.1 million budget shortfall and discussed offsets including property-sale proceeds and tax-rate increases.
Chair opened the Lee County Board of Supervisors recessed meeting and said the board would hear Mr. Dean first, who spoke for the school system about budget pressure and pay.
Mr. Dean told the board the district initially presented a budget that "started out" at $7,870,000 and that he had told his school board not to expect the full figure. He said he and staff "did find another possibility on the compensation supplement" and, after consulting state code and the Department of Education, concluded the district could capture a state supplement if the county provided the local match: "that is the only category that you can do a 50%. Like, if you all gave 50% of the local match, we could get 50% of the statement." He offered a worked example, saying a half match would provide roughly $775,051 in compensation-supplement funds the district could use for raises.
The board followed with questions and examples about recruitment and pay. Mr. Dean described a recent hire who accepted a job in Hancock County with a higher starting wage, saying "she came and said, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna go to Hancock County. Make $46.05 starting out. She said $5,000. I can't turn it down." He and supervisors debated how to count staff when calculating instructional ratios, with Mr. Dean noting that custodians, cooks and bus drivers are included in headcount even though they are not classroom teachers.
Staff presented reassessment and revenue numbers, telling the board the equalized rate had come in "a little over 51¢" and that one penny of the tax rate equates to roughly $142,624 in revenue. Using the figures in the published budget, staff said the county faced a roughly $4,595,135 shortfall; including an expected $500,000 property/tennis-courts sale brought that shortfall to about $4,095,135. Staff identified additional new or increased costs in the budget: courthouse repairs (~$300,000), EMS funding (+$650,000), jail costs (~$914,000), and juvenile court services (+$220,000), along with other DSS/CSA increases.
Board members and staff discussed trade-offs: delaying or redirecting funds, placing sale proceeds into an EMS pool, or raising the tax rate. Staff estimated that, under the current assumptions, moving the county's overall tax rate to around 79¢ (per $100 of assessed value) would nearly balance the budget and reiterated that small changes in reassessment and equalization materially affect revenue projections.
Procedural business followed: the board voted to enter a closed session to discuss public funds and personnel and later recessed/adjourned; follow-up cash-flow analysis and updated numbers were promised in the coming days.
The board did not adopt a final budget or set a tax rate during this recessed meeting; members directed staff to provide further detail and follow-up information for the upcoming regular meeting.
