Murphy – The Cherokee County school system is racing to do some 11th-hour patching, both to its proposed 2022-23 budget and to its aging facilities ahead of the start of classes.
Finance officer Stephanie Hass told the board of education Thursday that she expects Cherokee County Schools will need to come up with an additional $600,000 to satisfy a local budget shortfall.
Assistant superintendent John Higdon also came before the board with a series of repair needs that will likely total hundreds of thousands of dollars, including a new air conditioning system at Andrews High School and new roofing on the Peachtree Elementary School gymnasium.
“We are patching something, much like the air conditioner, much like the roof at Peachtree,” Superintendent Jeana Conley said of the budget. “This is not sustainable. We might be able to cover this year, but it’s not sustainable.”
Hass presented a handful of options about how to address the budget shortfall, including pulling from the school system’s fund balance and going back before the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners to ask for an additional allocation.
She said the school system’s fund balance has increased after clocking in at about $363,000 as of June 21, days before the end of the fiscal year. However, Hass said that new figure still is not enough to cover a $600,000 deficit.
Hass also acknowledged that any additional funds provided by commissioners would likely have to come via dedicated sales taxes.
“As I understand through their budget adoption, they have a zero budget,” Hass said. “I don’t think they have the fund balance availability, and I don’t think they have the revenue-generating figures or projections where they would have an additional $600,000 for us.
“I also don’t think they could set another rate increase for us, they have to set those figures by July 1 of every year. In the message to them, their $600,000 appropriation approval would have to come really in the use of sales taxes, the dedicating of it to us.”
Commissioners reduced the board of education’s annual appropriation by $600,000 in June before approving the county’s 2022-23 budget ordinance. The school system had asked for a $300,000 increase to cover rising general operating expenses and cost of living increases.
Board of education Chair Arnold Mathews said he supported the idea of going back before the board of commissioners and asking for an additional allocation.
Conley said the school system has thus far been able to “work very creatively to make sure students’ quality of learning has not regressed” for the coming academic year.
The school system is simultaneously scrambling to make sure Andrews High has air conditioning when students return for classes on Aug. 29. Higdon said the system only learned on Aug. 3 of the need to replace a broken-down “chiller” that is expected to cost about $100,000 to replace.
Due to supply chain issues, Cherokee County Schools will first need to rent a replacement machine until a new model can be purchased in the fall. A three-month rental will add tens of thousands of dollars to the overall price tag of the replacement.
“That is a rental chiller, we’ve done that in the past at Murphy Elementary, we’ve also done that at Murphy Middle,” Higdon said. “I was hoping we’d have a real number nailed down, to at least give you that.
“Just during the day today, one group was able to nail down a number, but I’m waiting to see what the others come in at. Right now, we’re looking at upwards of $50,000 just for a rental unit.”
Higdon said he hopes to find a rental unit for significantly lower than the $50,000 figure he initially received. He added that window units are not a realistic solution because they would trip circuit breakers.
Adding to the concerns, Higdon said the permanent replacements that are available are not an exact match for Andrews’ unit but are still expected to work. To acquire an exact match, Cherokee County Schools likely would be waiting until about June 2023, which would force the school system to pay more rental costs next spring.
“I would just like the consensus of the board tonight that, once we get these numbers and I can nail down a pretty reasonable low amount, that I can move forward,” Higdon said. “We do need to move forward on having something in place for the start of school for the cooling.”
Higdon discussed a variety of other facility needs, including repairs or replacement of the Peachtree Elementary gym roof. According to the assistant superintendent, a total replacement of the roof would cost upward of $70,000.
Higdon said a specially called board meeting could be needed later in the month to approve purchases related to those facility needs and more.
The board of education also briefly revisited the possibility of a merger between Hiwassee Dam Elementary/Middle and Ranger Elementary/Middle schools for the 2023-24 school year. Board member Joe Wood said he would like to have a financial analysis available for review and revisit the issue during a future meeting.