Pickett County BOE Passes Budget With Raises For All Staff

The Pickett County Board of Education approved next fiscal year’s school budget Monday.

Director of Schools Diane Elder said the budget process was a difficult one. Elder said April’s projections came in late which created a time crunch with the county.

“That put us a little bit behind,” Elder said. “And with our county commission, the budget committee requesting our budget be approved prior to their May meeting, that put us in a bit of a rush. So, we’ve pretty much put a budget together in about three days.”

Elder said the some $6 million budget is similar to last year’s with the exception of a three percent raise coming to all school staff. Elder said this funding is coming down from the state as a part of the BEP raises.

Elder said the state working on its own budget likely caused the delays for last month’s projections. Elder said she was pleased with central office staff for meeting the county’s goal.

“Some of it is due to legislation with the hold harmless,” Elder said. “(…) I guess that put the state department into getting all their data collected, all their numbers and everything with their budget figured out.”

Also included in the budget was a projected $50,000 increase in tax revenues and textbook costs dropping to about $45,000.

In other business, the Board approved $500 stipends for all school employees. Elder said those checks should be coming out by next month to any worker on the current payroll.