YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Vol. 16, No. 23
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Teachers, community protest Byron school budget deficit by Aly Brown
Teachers and community members from the Byron Union School District gathered to protest last week amid growing concerns about the school district’s finances.
Staff Writer
Horns blared at the intersection of Bixler Road and Highway 4 last week, but it wasn’t road rage, and the tumult was met with cheers from those who had gathered at the corner with picket signs. The protesters were teachers, parents and even young students who came out to express concerns and lack of faith in Byron Union School District (BUSD) Superintendent Dr. Debbie Gold in light of the board’s May 29 meeting that announced an additional $500,000 would need to be cut from the district budget. And as of April 30, the district has a negative cash balance of $1.8 million. “We’re here because we’re fed up with the mismanagement of money in the district,” said BUSD seventh-grade teacher Ben Foley. “We already had to take a contract that had no pay increase, while all the other districts took an increase – we were fine with that because we (the district) weren’t getting a lot of money from the state, but now we’ve just discovered that $500,000
June 8, 2018
New Life For Humphrey’s
The Antioch Marina’s iconic Humphrey’s restaurant has new owners and a new name. Page 4
Election Day Updates
Photo by Tony Kukulich
more needs to be cut out of our budget ... we’re already losing a lot of staff, we’re losing a Spanish program at the middle school, we’re having combo classes at the elementary schools ... So all of these cuts are actually reducing what schools can do for students, and we don’t think it needs to be this way.” Terry Koehne, Contra Costa County Office of Education (CCCOE) chief communications officer, confirmed the $500,000 and offered some insight on the county’s
role and how it monitors all school district budgets – the county’s obligation being to ensure districts present a balanced budget and that CCCOE tries to support them in that process. “We have alerted the Byron school district and their board that due to our review of their third interim budget report … we’ve seen that they have additional financial challenges to the tune of $500,000, so we have let them know they need to find reductions prior to budget
adoption,” Koehne said, adding the CCCOE only makes recommendations to the school districts, but it does not make the decisions. “We support school districts on those decisions, but they’re made by the local school board themselves. So I’m not going to sugarcoat it – it’s going to be a tough process for them, and there will be very tough decisions for them to deal with … I have confidence in both the superintendent
Take a look at preliminary results of the statewide primary election. Page 6
Striking It Rich At PBA
see Protest page 34
Fire district approves balanced budget by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer
The East Contra Costa Fire Protection District Board recently approved a balanced preliminary operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year. But it comes with a harsh reality: the agency still doesn’t have adequate resources to serve the area. The fiscal estimate maintains the current three stations and 35 personnel, most of which are tasked with protecting over 114,000 residents and 249 square miles.
“ We are financially sound with three stations
for 10 years, but we still need to address service levels.
“We are financially sound with three stations for 10 years, but we still need to address service levels,” said Fire Chief Brian Helmick. The preliminary budget, expected to be finalized in September, projects that the district will end
the 2018-2019 fiscal year with $1.7 million in excess revenue after estimating $16.2 million in revenue and $14.5 million in expenses. Also factored in is a $3.2 million operating carryover and $10.2 excess carryover, which includes
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Fire Chief Brian Helmick
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$6.2 million erroneously left behind when the district transferred its funds and financial operations from the county to the district. “We are taking care of all the financial obligations within this budget,” said Helmick, who noted that the district will not touch the $6.2 million until past budget audits are completed. About 96 percent of the organization’s revenue will come from property taxes, which are expected to increase by about 6 percent over see Budget page 34
EBT Changes
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Electronic benefit transfer users will have some restrictions placed on their cards in June.
Ron Mohr wins PBA50 Northern California Classic at Brentwood’s Harvest Park Bowl. Page 25 Calendar................................35 Classifieds.............................30 Cop Logs................................33 Entertainment.....................10 Food........................................11 Health & Beauty..................17 Milestones............................22 Kid Scoop................................9 Pets.........................................21 Sports.....................................25
Ag Meeting
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Agricultural land-use public meeting to be held in Knightsen.