BURTON SCHOOL BOARD ADOPTS BUDGET AND TAX RATE
The Burton School Board adopted a balanced budget at their meeting Monday evening. The adopted budget for this year came in at 5.09 million which was revised down during budget workshop meetings from the initial proposed budget of 5.11 million. The budget is about 4 percent higher than last year’s $4.9 million budget. Superintendent Dr. Edna Kennedy explained that most of the increase is due to the across the board teacher pay increase and from the increased student enrollment.
Burton trustees also voted to adopt a total tax rate of $1.17 per $100 valuation. That is the same tax rate that the district approved last year. While most property values in the district went up this year, County Tax Appraiser Willy Dilworth explained that tax revenue from oil and gas production is way down. Dilworth said that the district will lose over $500,000 this year due to lower mineral values.
Burton residents will be voting in November on an $18 million school improvement bond issue. The school improvements would include additional classrooms, a new gymnasium and a new football stadium. Enrollment at Burton has grown steadily in the past 10 years. Superintendent Kennedy said that enrollment has increased about 25 students each fall. The proposed bond issue would add an additional 31 cents to the tax rate in 2017, putting Burton near the highest taxing of similar sized districts in the area. Four community forums have been organized to inform the public about the school improvements and the proposed bond issue. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 29th at the Burton High School auditorium.
As has happened in several years past, Mrs. Ripple worked on the budget until the last day. Without getting too technical, she was able to use her years of experience to the advantage of the district. By including the updated enrollment numbers in her template, she was able to generate more state funding for the district. This allowed the budget to increase by 4% over the past year, without raising taxes on the local taxpayers. This allowed the district to keep the Maintenance and Operations side of the budget at $1.04.
In addition, due to her skills as the chief financial officer of the district, she has accumulated a fund balance in the Interest and Sinking Fund side of the budget. Each year the district collects taxes to pay for past bonds. The past several years the district kept the tax rate at $0.13 cents. When mineral values were up, the district collected more than enough to pay the interest and principal on the bond. Each year those surplus funds were put in the I&S fund balance. They were saved for years when the revenue might be down. These funds can be used only to pay for debt. Since the mineral values are down this year, this fund balance can be used to cover whatever the $.13 cents will not.
Thus, Mrs. Ripple was able to bring to the Board a balanced budget and allow them to keep the tax rate the same as it has been the past several years, even while adding more revenue to the budget. A taxpayer and long-time resident of Burton, Mrs. Ripple has once again provided Burton ISD with the resources to maintain and support Burton ISD in its effort to deliver quality education and experiences to all students.