By Taylor Boyd
A two percent pay raise and a STEP increase are among the proposals being considered as the Patrick County School officials craft the fiscal 2021-22 budget.
“We are working on numbers for a three percent raise, and a STEP to be in line with the state senate,” Schools Superintendent Dean Gilbert said at a recent joint meeting of the Patrick County School Board and the Patrick County Board of Supervisors.
“Keep in mind that we do not have an approved state budget. We do not even have one that is being sent to the Governor’s office to be approved or vetoed. So, all numbers are preliminary at this point, but the school board has to approve and adopt a budget by the end of March,” Gilbert said.
Based on the preliminary information, expenses in the total budget are $28,614,733.96, Gilbert said. School officials projected enrollment at 2,425 students, with 72 in pre-kindergarten.
“Within this composed budget, there is a need for an increased need for pre-k. That has been a big priority of” Gov. Ralph Northam, Gilbert said.
He also noted that additional guidance counselors may be needed, depending on the General Assembly and changes legislators may make.
Due to the required local match calculation, Gilbert said the school system would need an increase in local contributions of $481,621 for the at-risk, infrastructure and operations per pupil fund, and K-3 primary class size reduction.
“For planning purposes, Patrick has met budget and required local effort for fiscal year 2022,” he said.
Denise Stirewalt, a supervisor who represents the Peters Creek District, said enrollment appeared to be down from last year.
“That’s the state projected enrollment. They put a number in to project our enrollment and it’s never been right. We’re kind of able to project our enrollment based on trends of students. At one time we were well over 2,500, but we’ve been trending down. We try to make adjustments for that each year,” Gilbert said.
“You’d think like looking at the budget for last month the school system only used about eight percent of their facilities budget, and I’m sure the utilities and things haven’t used the whole budget. So, the thought process is you put in lower enrollment so you could have less funds,” Stirewalt said.
“You’ve only used eight percent of your facilities budget for this fiscal year. Then the monies left over from that and for utilities and things of that sort of thing there’s money left over from that. Since your funds you get from the state come from your enrollment, there’s money left over in the budget for, I’m sure, transportation, facilities, for this fiscal year’s budget,” she said.
“Where’s all the money going to that you’re not using in this fiscal year budget. I guess that’s my question. I think in the last board packet it showed that only eight percent of your facilities budget has been used in the fiscal year so far. So, where’s the rest of that 92 percent of that budget of those funds,” Stirewalt asked.
Noting that the school system still has months until the end of the year, Gilbert said “Typically, I don’t go in and spend a bunch of money on facilities. If something was to happen at the state level and they were to have a falloff in revenue, we’re committed to paying people and paying electric bills. Typically, in the first several months, I do not do a lot with facilities and capital expenditures because if something was to happen, I’ve got to be assured that I can meet payroll.”
Additionally, “I try not commit to buying buses in October or September. I try to wait towards the end of the year to see how money is running from the state,” Gilbert added.
Brandon Simmons, school board chairman and of the Dan River District, said the school division does not try projecting higher enrollment to obtain extra funds, “because in the end, if you guess that high and you don’t get that number, that’s a lot of money you’re not getting payments on. It would be our benefit if we guess low and had a lot of extra money there.”
Walter Scott, of the Smith River District, asked for an update on the Sales and Use tax approved by voters in November.
County Attorney Alan Black said the ordinance will take effect on July 1.
“We had May 1, based on the first day of the month after 120 days from passage. Turns out we can’t start on May 1. We have to start at the beginning of a quarter. So, it’s going to be changed and submitted to the Department of Taxation that the effective date will be July 1,” Black said.
In other matters, supervisors:
*Made several appointments, including Barry Meeks and Holly Johnson to the Court Services Unit (CSU) Board; Lori Jones to the Community Policy Management Team (CPMT) with Ruth Russell as the alternate, and Larry Cowley to the Planning Commission, with a term ending May 31, 2022.
The Patrick County Board of Supervisors and the Patrick County School Board held a joint meeting on Feb. 22 to discuss the school’s preliminary budget and financial contributions from the county.
