The special work session was the second held this week, as they attempted to finalize the budget before the beginning of the fiscal year, on Oct. 1.
Councilman Manuell Smith said the $919,000 set aside for the City School System from the general fund was the biggest hurdle in finalizing the budget.
“I think the main issue here is the Board of Education [money],” Smith said. “If we can agree what we’re going to cut the Board of Education, I think we can get the budget finished.”
Mayor Sam Wright said he was in favor of cutting the amount of money the BOE would receive to balance the budget. Then, he said the council could make up the difference through the ad valorem tax fund.
That fund was created to receive money through a property tax and was designated specifically for school use. Employees from the city clerk’s office said the fund currently has more than $2.45 million.
“I don’t think we want to lay off people when the Board of Education has got nearly $3 million,” Wright said. “We’re taking money out of our general fund. That affects everything in the city.”
Councilman Walter Jacobson presented a working document with cuts that would leave the budget with a surplus. He proposed five percent cuts to several appropriations.
But most of the money would come from a reduction in the amount allotted to the BOE, giving them $350,000.
“This was looking at trying to not put anybody out of business,” Jacobson said. “This is coupled with eight percent [reductions] from last year. If we go much deeper than that we get into affecting people’s jobs.”
Jacobson added the general fund did not have the money for all of the proposals.
“There is not a person in this room that’s a bigger proponent of education than I am,” he said. “What I looked at was the reality of where we are and the decrease in our funding strength from last year to this year.”
Council members Doug Murphree, Kenneth Horn and Smith said they were against that much of a reduction.
“I’m going to have a problem cutting the Board of Education that much” Murphree said. “I’m hopeful that within the next year, things are going to pick up some. My thoughts were to go ahead and pass this budget with a deficit.”
Murphree added that the council could go back and look at the budget a few months down the road.
Wright said he would be OK with passing a deficit budget. He said that would allow time to see how much money would be earned by the ad valorem tax in three months.
Horn said cuts needed to be made to all departments and appropriations to balance the budget.
“Ninety percent of these cuts we’re going to do, we’re not going to get anything,” he said. “We’ve got to do it uniform, across the board — everybody. Everybody takes the same cut.”
Council President James Heigl said he thought cuts to appropriations needed to be raised from five to eight percent. He said the economics did not allow the city to keep funding as much as they have.
“The $919,000 is what’s coming out of the people’s city taxes, out of our general fund that we’re appropriating to them,” Heigl said. “Years ago, [the appropriation] probably was only a few thousand. Over the years we have built it up to this point. At this point, we can’t afford to keep giving that. But I hope we can work that out amongst ourselves.”
Another special work session has been scheduled for Monday, Sept. 28 at 5 p.m.
Read the language in the bill authorizing the ad valoreum tax. It states the monies collected are to be used for educational purposes. Once the P&I are paid on the bond, the remainder is excess and can be used any way the BOE elects. They have used it in the past to pay teachers and to balance their budget. They can use it this year to fill the gap left by the city's genral fund not having enough money to fund the requested appropriation. It is not stealing anything from the kids or education, it is allowing them to use their money to fulfill their request. No one has suggested using the money for anything other than education. It would be a sahme to lay-off police, fire or other city employees so the city could fund the BOE and them having a reserve fund of over 2 million dollars. The city tax revenues are for all 12,000 plus citizens of the city, not just one group.
Using education funds for any other purpose is misappropriations of funds and the amount involved would be a felony. Can the City afford a major lawsuit they would lose? Were these public officials elected to gut the education fund rather than do their job? Either raise taxes or lay off employees, don’t steal from the children.
WHO IN THE HELL IS SITTING ON THIS MONEY AND WHY? BOE, you're telling folks that the school system doesn't have enough money to buy toilet paper and soap "...when the Board of Education has got nearly $3 million" (re: Sam Wright statement in article). Sylacauga needs a full audit by the Alabama Attorney General. Let's see how he feels about this. Stay tuned!