commentary STRAIGHT TALK
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School board updates In my last article, I discussed budget reduction efforts that had just been completed; let me start there and come forward. The school budget at this point is still a long way from being completed. First, it is built on two very large presumptions: one, an expenditure, and the other, a possible revenue source. The expenditure is the possibility that the state may mandate a cost-of-living adjustment for teachers; this is based on a Southeastern average and is required by law if passed by the legislature (each 1% of cost-of-living adjustments costs Beaufort County Schools about $1 million). The revenue is in the form of the state calculation around Act 388 (the 2006 legislation that removed owner occupied residences from paying operating taxes for schools); this has yet to be calculated but produces a little more than $1 million for each 1% of increase permitted. We are projecting this year that we will spend at least $4.1 million from our fund balance or savings account. At the present rate of tax collections, it actually looks as though we may have to use more. The Beaufort County Council sets both our millage rate and also projects at what rate we will collect taxes; this year, even in the down economy, the County Council has projected a collection rate of 98.6%. Not only is this a higher rate than in recent history but it is a higher tax collection rate than what the county council is projecting for its own collections. Think about that for just a moment: We all receive a single tax bill with both county and school district taxes on it, yet somehow it is projected that the school district will collect at a higher rate than the county. How is that possible? What we are really experiencing is a collection rate of about 95%. This will cause us to reduce more programs and staff, close schools (which we have taken off the table for 2011-12) or further reduce our fund balance. It is
Bill Evans was recently elected to the Beaufort County Board of Education to represent Lady’s Island, District 7
A real source of pride that I see is the increasing number of parents and community members attending our board meetings. my hope that if more reductions are necessary, we can cover them through expenditures from our fund balance and further derail program or eliminate staff. I know this is somewhat technical but it is reality and is all about how we are making decisions at this time and how those decisions are impacting people and programs for students. Let me see if I can’t find a little sunshine in this cloudy forecast. This past weekend was the annual South Carolina School Board Association meeting and training for new board members. As you might expect, a great deal of the discussion was around budgets and how school districts are coping. What I heard was that some school districts are cutting more than we are and that some are about where we are. Reductions range from furloughing staff for as much as 20 days (this means a reduction in work days and salary) to having athletes “pay for play” and elimination of arts programs. Two presentations of note took place during the meeting. The first was by Dr. Mike Fanning who spoke to the issue of our broken system of revenue and how we give up approximately $4.7 billion dollars a year in tax exemptions to over 200 special interests; just think, we are giving up as much money in tax
exemptions as the state is planning to spend on education (some to silly things like paying taxes on the sale of some livestock but not all or the taxes paid on a car, flat rate of $300 whether the vehicle is a $5,000 used car or an $80,000 luxury ride). The second glimmer of hope was a presentation by Dr. Harry Miley, former Director of the State Council of Economic Advisors, a noted conservative economist, he is proposing a new funding policy for education that would equalize property taxes across the state, establish a base formula for student funding that would be the same in each school district and give weighed funds for students needing special instruction. Although both of these presentations are far from reaching acceptance, together they pose the potential for drastically reducing property and sales taxes while providing a increase to education funding from a more stable and equitable source. A real source of pride that I see is the increasing number of parent and community members attending our board meetings and School Improvement Council sessions. Although it took an emotional issue like closing schools (this topic is still active for the 2012-13 school year), the benefits to having people participate, get informed and ask questions is positive for how we govern the schools. I hope this continues to be the standard rather than the exception. I hope you will continue to keep yourself informed about all education issues and especially the budget as it goes forward. An upcoming event sponsored by the Beaufort County Schools Foundation, “Celebrate Inspiration,” will be held on Friday, April 29 to raise funds for classroom grants to teachers. For more information, go to www.foundationexcellence. com or call 322-2306. As always, you can reach me at (843) 301-6858 or billevansschoolboard@gmail.com.
STRAIGHT TALK
What is the redevelopment commission? By Jonathan Verity
As the newly-named chairman of the Beaufort Redevelopment Commission, I’d like to provide some clarity about who we are, what our mission is and how we are going to get there. The redevelopment commission is made up of nine members, all from the private sector except for one Beaufort City Council member, Mike McFee. We are appointed for two-year terms renewable by the city council. Through public/private partnerships and other collaborative efforts with stakeholders, we are charged with matching public and private assets to opportunities within the community. To do this work, we have three
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working committees: • Finance Committee, with a goal of understanding the possible options for funding the projects we develop; • Commercial Redevelopment Committee, which focuses on commercial opportunities and commercial infill; • Residential Development Committee, which focuses on workforce housing, both new and rehab, as well as other infill opportunities. After the city council recently reviewed our charter, we no longer are involved with the Beaufort parking issue, although a portion of the parking revenues can be used to help fund our projects if approved by the city council.
We meet at 5 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month at city hall and the public is invited. We welcome your ideas and input. The members of the commission include myself; Michael McNally, vice chair and chair of Residential Redevelopment Committee; Martin Goodman, chair of the Commercial Redevelopment Committee; Wendy Zara, chair of the Finance Committee; Edwin Barnhart; Pat Case; Henrietta Goode; and Keith Waldrop. If you have any questions, a good place to find more information about the Beaufort Redevelopment Commission is at www.cityofbeaufort. org.