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GoogleMost of the money will go to special education or the Title I program for students who need additional assistance with reading and math. The county doesn't have much flexibility on how those funds may be used.
The school board will, however, be allowed to spend about half of the special education funds on other things because it met specific requirements. Dr. Dwight Hedge, director of schools, said he plans to use $425,556 to replace old boilers and heating and air conditioning systems in Trimble, Newbern and Finley schools. Newer, more energy-efficient equipment will make the schools more comfortable and save money, he explained.
If the school budget receives ample tax revenues, Hedge said he plans to address problems with school bathrooms, roofs and parking lots - and maybe even finish the Dyer County High School theater, which is expected to cost $1.25 to $1.5 million.
Hedge shared his plans Thursday while presenting the county school board's 2009-10 budget proposal to the Dyer County Commission's Budget Committee. A public hearing on the entire county budget is scheduled at 9:30 a.m. June 19 in the circuit courtroom on the second floor of the Dyer County Courthouse. Then, the budget is to be presented to the full County Commission at 7 p.m. June 29, also in the circuit courtroom. The new budget goes into effect on July 1.
The General Purpose School Fund anticipates $23,436,617 in revenues and $23,685,431 in expenses. To balance the budget, the county school board anticipates using $248,814 from the fund balance. That will leave $3.19 million in the school's fund balance on June 30, 2010.
Hedge said his goal is to maintain a fund balance equal to at least 10 percent of the total budget.
Like other county budget proposals, the school budget includes no general raises for employees this year. Hedge said some teachers will receive longevity pay from the state and teachers with advanced degrees will receive an additional sum, as is required.
Hedge said the school budget has been helped by a slow but steady rise in student enrollment. The additional students brought additional state funding without creating significant additional expenses.
"That's what's kept us in business," Hedge told the budget committee members.
County school enrollment started declining in the late 1990s, reaching a low-point of 3,180 students in 2002. The number of students rose to 3,459 in 2006 and stood at 3,440 in 2008.
The schools' transportation budget calls for $2.098 million in revenues and $2.163 million in expenses. The budget will be balanced with $64,764 from the fund balance. That will leave $412,399 in the transportation's fund balance on June 30, 2010.
The school's cafeteria fund anticipates $1.895 million in both revenues and expenses. None of the cafeteria fund's fund balance will be needed, and it is expected to remain at $373,956
The budget committee accepted the school budgets and then proceeded to the General Debt Service Fund presented by County Trustee Judy Patton.
The debt service fund anticipates $2.686 million in revenues and $2.271 million in expenditures. The excess revenues will go into the fund balance, bringing that total to $5.190 million on June 30, 2010.
The county recently re-financed a $21 million bond and postponed paying principal for a few years, decreasing the costs some. The county is considering re-financing a $10 million variable interest-rate bond, but Patton said the current interest rate is lower than the county would receive if it re-financed to a fixed rate.
Patton said she added a $75,000 account for legal expenses. She said she's never had legal expenses in the debt service budget, but the county will need that to deal with a situation involving bonds with variable interest rates and contracts signed to limit the county's costs when the interest rates soared. County Attorney Mike Gauldin has been asked to investigate the county's options.
The budget committee accepted the debt service budget proposal.
In other business, Steve Walker, an accountant who is serving his first year on the budget committee, said he'd reviewed historical budget data and noticed a pattern. The county usually receives more revenues and holds expenditures below budgeted amounts.
Still, he said, the fund balance has decreased about $1 million in the last three years.
Walker had previously expressed concern about the deficit in the county's General Fund budget.
The General Fund proposal called for $10.278 million in revenues and $10.678 million in expenses. After taking $400,537 to balance the budget, the fund balance will be $949,448. The fund balance supplies the county's cash flow until landowners begin paying property taxes nearly halfway through the fiscal year.
County Mayor Richard Hill said he believes the county can find a way to balance next year's budget without dipping into the fund balance.
"We can erase this $400,000 deficit next year," Hill said. "I believe we can do it."
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GRANTS GRANTS! WHY DO YOU ALL SAY WE ARE IN THE HOLE... SOME ONE EXPLAIN PLEASE WITH OUT PUTTING IT ALL ON THE DEPRESSION WE ARE LIVING AT THIS TIME!
This "federal grant from the stimulus package" is money we don't have, borrowed from China and other countries, and that will have to be repaid by taxpayers through direct and indirect taxes on everything we earn, our property, and our possessions. I'll say it once again real slow: W E C A N N O T S P E N D O U R W A Y O U T O F D E B T W I T H M O N E Y W E D O N ' T H A V E A N D H A V E T O B O R R O W F R O M O T H E R C O U N T R I E S. Do NOT take the grant money! The solution to the budget deficit is to drop all programs and services that do not constitute basic education requirements. The law in Tennessee says that children must be given four hours of academic instruction per day for 180 school days each year. How much less would our school budget be if we did only what was required and got rid of all the social engineering and "feel good" programs?
EVERY ONE IS LOOKING FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO BAIL THEM OUT .LIKE CREDIT CARDS VERY TEMPTING ,BUT OH SO MUCH TROUBLE IN THE END WHEN ITS TOO LATE ! YOU ARE GOING TO PAY BACK MORE THAN YOU GOT . MR. OBAMA IS THE BANKER IN THIS MONOPOLY GAME AND HE'S SPENDING IT FASTER THAN THEY ARE MAKING IT .YOU ARE GONNA OWE BIG TIME IF YOU TAKE HIS LOAN ! AND AT WHAT COST?
Okay, different/visions/12. Here it is, plain and simple. The federal government, run by agenda driven political parties, has been overstepping its constitutional authority for a long, long time. In order to keep control of the powers to tax and spend, the parties have made promises to voters which over time have been translated into money intensive programs and services, many of which have been forced upon state and local governments. That is the reason our taxes keep increasing. Then, in a move that decimated our nation's manufacturing infrastructure, the people who control the political parties managed to pass legislation and treaties which allowed and encouraged companies to relocate into third world countries where restrictions on manufacturing and labor were non-existent AND gave these countries "free trade" agreements which made the cost of doing business in the U.S. too expensive. That action has resulted in the loss of jobs here at the time when the federal government was expanding its "entitlement" and social programs without making any effort to reduce the size and cost of government. The net result of all this federal interference in our free market economic system has been over spending and over borrowing money from investors from here and around the world. Our nation's debt to these creditors is now above ten trillion dollars. This is money we owe. This is money that will have to be repaid in some way now and in the future. Here is an analogy for you: Let's say you just graduated from high school and entered the job market. Your pay for the work you do is $100 per week, $5200 per year. Having an income, you want a nice car, so you buy one for $10,000 with payments of $300 per month. Insurance costs you $50 per month. You need a place to live, so you get an inexpensive apartment for $300 per month. You've gotta eat. Your food bill is $200 per month 'cause you can eat cheap when you need to...but you like to splurge every once in a while and buy a pizza about every three days. So your actual food bill is more like $400 per month. You got sick and had to see a doctor. $100. Meds cost $45. Your clothes are threadbare, so you buy some jeans at $45 (they're designer jeans with the holes already in the legs and other places). You have to pay the utility bills to keep the lights and water working. $60 each month. Now let's see how we're doing. After taxes your takehome income is just under $400 per month. Your actual monthly cost of living is over $1100. Hey! You're doing all right because you use a credit card to pay your bills. At the end of the first year, you're only about $8400 in debt...but the credit card company wants to be paid the principle and INTEREST (18% compounded) and are threatening you with debt collection proceedings in court. OMG! What to do? Why not do what the federal government just did to solve all your money woes: Write a great big check on your overdrawn bank account and give it to your creditors. And when the check bounces and really the creditors get really, really angry at being cheated out of their money, why not rationalize the problem as the federal government has just done and ask Dad and Mom to bail you out of the debt hole you've gotten yourself into because of your financial stupidity. In the case of the "GRANTS" and "STIMULUS MONEY", however, it will be at least four generations taxpayer who will have to do the bailing out and go into to poverty. Does this answer your question, grasshopper?
NICE JOB "A CITIZEN" AND I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY OTHER ONE WHO KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON WITH THIS "MADMANS" IDIOLOGY OF SPENDING,AND THE BLOB THAT IS GETTING BIGGER WITH EACH NEW GOVERNMENT BILL, AND TAX, THAT WILL DEVORE ALL US TAX PAYERS BEFORE WE ARE SMART ENOUGH TO SAY "FREEZE" IT YA BIG DUMMY!
YOU WOULD THINK AFTER THE TORNADO THAT CAME THRU HERE A FEW YEARS AGO, WOULD MAKE US THINK .DO WE HAVE THE RESOURCES TO ENDURE ANOTHER ONE OR SHOULD WE SPEND IT ALL ON OUR CHRISTMAS WISH LIST AND HOPE THE GOVERNMENT WILL BAIL US OUT? THIS COUNTRY IS SPENDING TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS THAT ARE NOT SHOWING ANY IMPROVEMENT TO THE COMMON TAX PAYER'S LIFE. THE BIG THING IS IT HASN'T BEEN SIX MONTHS YET AND HE'S RUSHING IT FASTER THAN MOST PEOPLE CAN KEEP UP WITH ,OR HAVE TIME TO PROTEST .YOU WILL END UP WORKING HARDER FOR LESS WHILE GOVERNMENT HAS IT'S FRILLS AT TAX PAYERS EXSPENSES.
Thank you so very much for the infomation. I knew some of this, but i could not express it as you have so nicely. I live it daily as others. Also you would probably be surprised that a great many others needed this to be explained this way, but would never ask any one for fear of being put down,thank you again for your kindness now you,ll never know how many you have helped!
To all readers: I realize there are some grammatical errors in my response to different/visions/12. These resulted when I attempted to rephrase some of my comments before making the information available for public consumption. For some reason my computer or the program malfunctioned, and I had to either leave it as it now appears or lose everything and start over. As a conclusion to my comments let me say that I know of no way via the ballot box to put an end to the insanity we have been witnessing in the Distict of Columbia, state capitols, and at all other levels of government. Our school system is running a deficit budget, yet the people who are making the financial decisions just announced a plan to buy 53 acres of land across from the Fifth Consolidated School upon which to build another new school building. I'm certain no one bothered to consider my suggestion of using the large insurance settlement the school system got for storm damage and the $200,000 plus dollars the new land will cost to remodel the existing building instead of strapping us with more long-term debt. These people don't get it. They either don't care about bankrupting working people, or they are too stupid to realize our county, out state, and our county are going down the toilet because of out of control spending. WE NEED CHANGE! But what needs changing is our broken election process that keeps allowing the same people to run our government into the ground year after year. What is currently happening, for those people who can't see the forest for the trees, is the largest robbery of wealth in the history of mankind from the working people of our country and no one, absolutely no one, is being held accountable for this travesty of justice. I am reminded by history of the French Revolution where the people of France revolted violently and overthrew the royalty and wealthy class, putting many to death. Some historians and political wags condemned the horrible blood bath that took place over a relatively short period of time, but others who had suffered under the rule of an unjust, indifferent social system put the revolution in a more understandable perspective. They explained that the general citizenry had been oppressed for literally hundreds of years by tyrannts who wielded their power through heavy taxation and a corrupt legal system. We have now come to that point in our own country where we will either be herded like cattle into a new world order ruled by an unelected, unaccountable class of ultra wealthy elitists in a plantation style economy or be forced to reassert our God-given right of self-determination by whatever means. I personally do not believe enough people "get it", and they won't until, like the victims who were herded into cattle cars and locked in extermination camps by the Nazis, they look through the barbed wire prison of world domination and realize their chance for freedom has been taken away. We are very near that point, my friends. Our nation is months, not years away from dissolution because of rampant spending. That North American Union Mr. Bush and others were creating in secret is almost a reality. If you don't think so, I ask you to read the labels on products in the meat case of grocery stores that say "Product of Mexico, Canada, and the United States". That tranlates into "Product of the North American Union". To our school board, don't take the grant; don't spend the money; don't increase our debt; spend within the budget and not all of that because, as working people everywhere know, unexpected expenses happen.
AMEN -A CITIZEN WELL SAID
A Citizen....Thank you, I appreciate your time and wisdom,even more all of what you posted is facts! I also have noticed no one has attacked your post yet. When i state facts the b/s try to bluff me by calling me names. You rock !
Name-calling, labeling, and libeling are standard tactics used by political thugs to attack opponents. I believe Jesus cautioned His disciples to be wary of such people because "The servant (i.e., the disciples) is not greater than the master (aka Jesus). He was warning them that what people filled with hate did to Him, they would do to the disciples. Without getting wound up about religion, let me just say that I find it interesting that our religious liberties and beliefs have been among the first obstacles opponents of our Constitution and our system of morality and values have sought to destroy. They are liars and hypocrites. A tree is known by its fruit. They advocate late-term abortions in the name of compassion. They rob people who work to give those who won't for the purpose of political exploitation. They legislate laws against decency by labeling moral indignation a hate crime. We have two nations within our borders. One seeks liberty, justice, and godliness; the other advocates hedonism and will sacrifice any and everything to be freed from the influence of morality. As with radical Islam and the rest of humanity, we are in a war that only the dark side acknowledges is raging while decent people are slaughtered with our heads buried in the sand in a futal attempt on hold on to what is right, what is just, what is good. My question is when are we going to draw a line in the sand and declare, "NO MORE!"?
IF NOT FOR THE RANTS OF THE FEW, LITTLE WILL EVER CHANGE, AND WHEN THE TRUTH ,OF THE ONES WHO ARE TRYING TO OPEN THE EYES OF THOSE THAT WILL LISTEN WITH AN OPEN MIND AND NOT BIAS , OR PERSONAL BENEFIT .SEEING IS BELIEVING, AND ONLY UNITED ACTION WILL STOP THE SYSTEMATIC STRIPPING OF THE RIGHTS TO THE TAX PAYERS BEFORE IT BECOMES WORSE THAN IT ALREADY IS . THE CONSTITUTION STARTS WITH "WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ". USE IT BEFORE WE LOOSE IT! WE HAVE LET GOVERNMENT TAKE CONTROL AND ARE BECOMING PUPPETS TO THEIR CONTROL WITHOUT QUESTION AND DO NOT PURSUE ANSWERS FOR SUCH ACTIONS AS THEY DEEM FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE FEW IN POWER.