Putnam Budget Shortfall Reduced To $102K

The Putnam County School Board approved its new fiscal year budget Thursday night with a shortfall reduced to $102,300.

That shortfall will be paid from fund reserves. School Board Member Celeste Gammon said that is something the board cannot do consistently.

“We’re in a good position to be able to take this from our reserve funds,” Gammon said. “Obviously with the place that we’re in as a community, we understand and we’re able to do this.”

The budget shortfall began at $1.1 million. Director of Schools Corby King walked School Board members Thursday night through the changes made from budget version two. The biggest reduction in expenses came from the elimination of pay raises to state employees. The Legislature made that change last week. That reduced Putnam County’s total budget by $686,000.

“Our teachers and our staff are top notch,” School Board Chair Dr. Dawn Fry said. “It hurts us every time we can’t give raises, so it’s going to be a tough year. But we’re going to recover.”

In addition, the school system pays those same raises to all employees. The removal of those raises reduced the shortfall by $597,000. The system included a three percent reduction in insurance costs based on earlier estimates, saving $152,000. The school system also received $66,000 in additional funding from the penny rate.

“It’s taxpayer money,” Fry said. “We want to be fiscally responsible with it always.”

Fry and other board members thanked Chief Financial Officer Mark McReynolds for his work trying to get the budget as tight as possible. Fry said McReynolds and the school team deserve credit for having the reserves necessary for tough times.

“Mark is very good at finding places where we can save, where we should consider saving, spending here, not spending there,” Fry said. “His direction is imperative.”

County commissioners will consider the budget next month.