Council, School Board to meet over funding
BRISTOL, Va. — The city School Board and City Council will hold a called joint meeting tonight to try and iron out a $500,000 reduction in school funding.
The two boards are to meet tonight at 6 p.m., at the School Board office to discuss "school appropriations," according to a notice issued on Friday.
Last Tuesday the City Council voted 4-1 on first reading to approve a city spending plan that provided an additional $500,000 to the school system, rather than the $1 million the school budget was based on.
Members of the School Board and Superintendent Keith Perrigan said last week they learned of the change the day before the vote and expressed concern over the city's decision. They also requested a joint meeting.
The draft city budget included an $8.54 million allocation to the school system for its budget, a $1 million increase compared to the current year.
On Tuesday the council approved an $8.04 million allocation as part of its operating budget.
The change was one of two major budget shifts by the council to reduce the impact of a substantial monthly trash rate collection fee. The council voted to increase the fee from $33 per month to $60 per month but that was less than the originally proposed $72 per month.
To make up that difference the city took $500,000 from the schools and transferred $422,320 less in the capital equipment budget, dropping it from $960,600 to just over $538,200.
Combined with a previous $384,000 transfer, that all generated a $1.37 million transfer to the solid waste budget to reduce the trash fee.
That change, which must be finalized with a second vote later this month, did not sit well with school officials.
"The idea behind the $1 million increase was to provide some breathing room between our actual maintenance of effort and the minimum funding amount required by the Commonwealth of Virginia," Perrigan told the council last week. "Our local composite index will also be going up in the next biennium so that requirement will also go up as well.
"The shifting of $1 million to $500,000 will actually bring us closer to the bare minimum than we've ever been," Perrigan said, adding the change would "seriously impact" the division's ability to provide the raises called for in the state budget and already built into the school system's budget.
"Failure to address the gap we have now will only have future and possibly even more painful impacts on increases," he said. "So I respectfully ask the City Council consider fully funding the collaborative appropriation request that was submitted by combined staff."
Board Chair Randy Alvis said the board had no chance to consider how the change would affect their budget that is now $500,000 out of balance.
The situation is further complicated by the current state budget impasse in Richmond so local school officials have no way of knowing how much state funding they will receive until June, Alvis said.
"It was mentioned that we're cutting it close. A lot of citizens are cutting it close," Councilman Anthony Farnum said last week. "You talk about raising taxes and meals tax. People are paying more for gas and groceries and electric bills. A lot of people are cutting it close. I don't think there is an additional $1 million we can give over last year but on this budget there is an additional $500,000 … I'm happy to be able to fund schools more than we did last year."
dmcgee@bristolnews.com — Twitter: @dMcGeeBHC
