The Eastern Pulaski Community School Corporation will have to dip into its Rainy Day Fund next year to keep the budget balanced. Interim Superintendent Dr. Gib Crimmins discussed the 2020 budget proposal with the school board Monday.
“I want to make sure everyone understands, it’s going to take at least $500,000 of Rainy Day money to make that 2020 budget work,” he explained. “There’s either going to have to be increase in revenue or decrease in expenses because at some point, you’re going to run out of money if we don’t do that.”
But he said that, overall, next year’s budget will be pretty similar to this year’s. “The Operations Fund will increase just because the legislature did increase the maximum levy,” Crimmins said. “The new assessed values are very similar to last year’s assessed value.”
Eastern Pulaski’s 2020 budget proposal totals more than $14.3 million, with almost $7.7 million of that being the Education Fund and over $4.4 million being the Operations Fund. No comments from the public were offered during a hearing on the 2020 budget. It will be up for adoption during a special school board meeting on October 31.
Board members did approve a few budget-related resolutions Monday, though. One will allow the corporation treasurer to transfer up to $1.2 million from the Education Fund to the Operations Fund next year, since there are certain expenses that are covered by state tuition funding but legally have to be budgeted in the Operations Fund. Another resolution gives Crimmins and Treasurer Angie Anspach permission to modify the budget proposal during the state budget hearing.
