County Council passes school budget on first reading

Any debate the Oconee County Council has on any additional funding for the Oconee School District will wait until its May 7 meeting. The Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the School Board’s tentative budget on a first reading, but according to school officials the budget they’ll ask the Council to approve might change. The School Board on Monday unanimously approved a measure to request an additional mill of school tax in hopes of balancing its projected 2019-2020 budget of $107 without weakening further its cash reserve. The move came after school officials received revamped figures regarding expected state revenue from the State House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee. School officials hope the additional mill will provide approximately $400,000 in new revenue. Council chairman Julian Davis cautioned other members before Tuesday’s vote that they would be voting on the school’s budget as submitted, without any increase. School officials are scheduled to appear before the Council and make their case at the Council’s May 7 meeting, Davis said. For the past few years the School Board has sought not only to avoid dipping into its reserve but to increase it. This was codified over four years ago to make building and maintaining a reserve of roughly one-fifth of the School District’s budget a matter of policy.