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The Troup County School Board held its first public hearing and review of the FY 2022-2023 budget Monday night, noting the current, incomplete state of the budget and what information is needed to be finalized before the June deadline.

No public comments were received on the budget at Monday’s hearing. The second public comment period will be held Monday, May 16, at 5 p.m. The budget will be finalized and approved on June 16. In its current state, TCSS is looking at a stable budget going into the FY 2023 fiscal year, said Scott Burckbuchler, chief financial officer for TCSS.

While revenues in state and local funds are up, expenditures are expected to increase due to fuel and construction price increases.

“We’re in decent shape now, but [there will be] further strain on our budget depending on what the economy does,” Burckbuchler said.

The current FY 2021-2022 budget has a revised expenditure amount of over $135 million.

The FY 2022-2023 budget currently has a total operating expenditure of over $131 million, an over $3.7 million, or -2.8%  difference, compared to the current fiscal year.

Burckbuchler said he would recommend several financial changes in terms of state revenue based on not currently having final allocations from the state. Overall, Burckbuchler said, TCSS will be using a small amount of fund balance to balance the budget.

State income funds are expected to increase by 6.2% and local funds by 11.9% 

In terms of budget changes, TCSS is looking at an $11 million base budget due to various one-time expenses, including $2.3 million for the Troup High school roofing project. 

TCSS will have to adjust funding several positions that were being funded out of CARES III funds, a total of over $4.4 million. Over $8.4 million from CARES II funds will need to be absorbed into the general fund.