Budget fixes low-wealth funding
By Steve Herring
Published in News on May 30, 2018 2:08 PM
The proposed state budget would not only fully restore Wayne County's low-wealth school funding, but would increase it by nearly $700,000 in reoccurring dollars over the current level, Rep. John Bell of Goldsboro said Tuesday.
The change to the budget comes as Wayne County Public Schools face the loss of $2 million in low-wealth funding, due to the county's tax rate not meeting the threshold required to receive the funds.
The county's tax rate is factored into the state formula that determines low-wealth funding, Bell said. As the county commissioners worked to lower the property tax rate over the past few years, it actually threw the county out of the formula.
It takes two years to implement any changes since the state operates on a biennial budget, Bell said.
"So what we were able to do last year is that with the formula and the effort put in by the county, the county was supposed to get a little over $4.9 million in low-wealth money," Bell said.
The prior year, the county received $6.9 million so it would have been about a $2 million loss, he said.
However, the state was able to stabilize the funding to keep the $2 million in the budget to keep the total at slightly more than $6.9 million, Bell said.
"We have talked before about fixing it longterm and we have been working on this," he said.
Commissioners had championed making changes to a state law that exempts counties with military bases and a student population of at least 23,000 from the low-wealth formula.
Currently, that applies only to Cumberland County, the home of Fort Bragg, and Onslow County, home of Camp Lejeune.
The new budget lowers that number to 17,000 and mandates that Wayne County be held harmless to the sum of $7,642,721 -- the same amount the county received in fiscal year 2012-13.
"We were able to adjust the (student) population in Wayne County to get it (funding) back to the 2012-13 numbers," Bell said. "And with the projection this year, we are projected to get $5.4 million with the formula, which is why the school system and county have been talking about what to do to make up the difference.
"But with this fix, it actually gives them $7.6 million, which is about a $700,000 increase over what they had last year and it is stabilized at $7.6 million from here on out."
The announcement came on the eve of two days of budget deliberations by Wayne County commissioners.
Those deliberations currently include a 2.65-cent property tax increase for fiscal year 2018-19.
The increase, which would take the rate from 66.35 to 69 cents per $100 worth of appraised value, would be effective July 1, the start of the new fiscal year.
The increase is needed primarily to cover the loss of low-wealth school funding, additional school resource officers, an increase in teacher supplements and to ease the demand on the budget's fund balance.
The first budget workshop will start at 10 a.m. today in the commissioners' meeting room on the fourth floor of the Wayne County Courthouse Annex. The second session is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday.
A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for June 5 after which the commissioners can approve it, prior to July 1.
"It could very well impact on what we finally vote on," Wayne County Commission Chairman Bill Pate said. "Surely it will."
Pate said Bell had told him the state budget would be approved by June 15, which would provide time for the county to make adjustments.
"If that thing does pass, then you will hear me holler," Pate said. "Then,we will make the appropriate change at that time I am sure. But we have to wait until they pass that budget.
"We are going to go ahead and plan the budget based on what we know is real at time. If that does come to fruition, and I believe it will, then we will make a proper adjust at that time."
Commissioners have a lot to talk about, and it would be premature to say what they would do about the tax rate, Pate said. If an increase is needed, it may be less than what has been recommended.