CISD adopts balanced budget at previous year’s tax rate

• Phil Calvert being sworn in as a new member of the Center ISD Board of Directors. Calvert will be filling out the term of Daphne LaRock, who recently resigned from the board. New elections for the board will be held in November. David Danley | Light and Champion

Adoption of the 202425 budget and tax rate was the focus of a special called meeting of the Center ISD Board of Directors held Thursday, Aug. 29.

“Lots of school districts throughout the state right now are adopting deficit budgets and we were able to not have to do that,” Supt. Brian Morris pointed out to the board.

The board adopted a budget of $28,445,328, which is an increase of less than one percent over last year’s budget of $28,296,866, according to Valerie Moore, Chief Financial Officer. Moore reported that the 2024-25 budget is based on a total tax rate of $1.045, which is the same as the previous year, and is broken down into a Maintenance & Operations rate of .7575 and an Interest & Sinking rate of .2875.

Moore stated that 80% of the budget is taken up by payroll costs with the remaining 20% for the activities and operations of the district.

Of the budget, the food service portion is projected to be $1,629,723, a decrease of 25.6% from last year’s budget of $2,189,873. The decrease resulted from an excessive fund balance that had to be spent down on food service equipment.

The proposed budget on the district’s construction bond is projected at $3,676,137. The district will be earning interest on the bond and will be required to do budget amendments throughout the year to include the interest in order to be able to utilize it.

The proposed debt service from the I&S budget will be $2,313,189, an increase of $1,662 from the previous year.

During the meeting, Phil Calvert was sworn in as a new member to fill the unexpired term of Daphne LaRock, who recently resigned from the board.