Since December, Indian River School District Finance Director Patrick Miller and the Finance Committee have worked on the district’s 2007 fiscal-year budget with one major concern: energy.
Even after district residents voted to pay 8.5 cents per $100 of assessed property value for energy in the next two years, that concern still loomed as Miller presented the budget for approval on Tuesday to the school board. That $26 million operational budget includes $21.2 million for salaries and utility costs and a $161,500 addition to the legal services line item.
The board voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve the budget, which will take effect on July 1, and test district officials’ energy and legal cost estimates.
“Energy costs continue to be a substantial concern,” said Miller, in an opinion echoed by School Board President Charles Bireley. “We don’t really know where it is going.”
Though the district is associated with a state-led cooperative effort and is waiting for energy bids to return, they budgeted based on Delmarva Power energy cost increases.
Indian River’s schools and offices suffered increases from 64 percent to 117 percent on May 1 when rate caps were lifted.
Last year, the district budgeted $686,000 for electric bills. Miller said that the district will likely pay about $1.3 million in the same bills next year, an increase of almost 100 percent collectively. And that’s if Delmarva Power’s rates remain as predicted next year.
Those energy increases — which might be overstated because of the co-op opportunities — were part of a $1.8 million increase in the District Operations line item, which includes insurance costs and other costs for newly-renovated schools.
Money added for legal services
District officials added $161,500 to the legal services line item from last year, bringing that total to $200,000 for “Pending Litigation Concerns.”
Miller said that much of that was added for the pending prayer-related suits — the Dobrich/Doe case and the insurance-filed suit — and the pending HVAC suit. In the Dobrich/Doe case, the district has retained attorney Jason Gosselin from a Philadelphia law firm to take over for the two insurance agency-appointed attorneys. In the HVAC suit, the district is attempting to recover funds from a contractor who broke his contract with the district.
No teacher raises?
Local residents probably remember passing a referendum question that asked for more money to pay for raises for district teachers. Those raised amounts were not included in the passed 2007 budget. The approved question was supposed to take referendum monies to pay for a 4 percent local pay raise for teachers and other district employees, an amount that would have translated into about $491 per employee. Indian River pays about 30 to 35 percent of teachers’ salaries and the state picks up the rest.
Although secretaries, custodians and food service workers have received those raises, teachers haven’t seen an extra dime. Miller said that they refused the original pay-hike package, and are negotiating with the district for a more substantial raise.
“What they want and what reality is might be different things,” Miller said.