Sources of revenue increases
› $4 million in state funding› $1 million in property tax revenue› $2 million in local sales tax revenueSource: Hamilton County Department of Education
By the numbers
› Adopted budget for fiscal year 2017: $363 million› Base budget expense starting point for fiscal year 2018: $365 million› Preliminary projected revenue for fiscal year 2018: $368.8 million› Revenue available for fiscal year 2018 needs: $3.9 millionSource: Hamilton County Department of Education
A draft of next year’s school budget request given to the Hamilton County school board last week seeks a more than $32 million increase in the current budget.
The district is expecting about $7 million in new money in fiscal 2018, which begins July 1, but nearly half that is needed to cover about a dozen new positions and the cost of annual step-pay increases.
“We have almost $3.9 million available for our [fiscal year 2018] needs,” Christie Jordan, assistant superintendent of finance, told the board, noting that’s just a small slice of the extra $32 million requested in the proposed budget. Starting revenue for the upcoming year’s budget is estimated at $368.8 million and the district’s proposed budget exceeds $397 million.