MFISD approves $39.5 million budget
By Lew K. Cohn, Managing Editor
The Highlander
Marble Falls Independent School District (MFISD) trustees have approved a balanced budget of more than $39.5 million for the 2016-17 fiscal year which will include salary increases for all district employees as well as allow the district to hire additional pre-K and secondary teachers to accommodate district population growth.
The board voted to approve the proposed $39,521,100 budget, after holding a public hearing at the regular meeting June 20. The new budget represents a five percent increase above the $37,893,138 budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year, said District Finance Director Lisa LeMon.
During the public hearing, LeMon told trustees the budget will assume the adoption of a $1.28 tax rate for 2016-17, which includes a maintenance and operations rate of $1.0533 per $100 valuation and a debt service rate of 22.67 cents. The budget was based on property tax values of $2 billion the district received by certified estimate from the Burnet County Appraisal District on April 30 as well as an anticipated average daily attendance of 3,959 students.
On the revenue side, the district is expected to bring in nearly three percent more in taxes in the next fiscal year with an increase to $32,965,310 from last year's amount of $32,073,352. The district is also expecting to see an increase of 11 percent in state revenues at $4,168,075 (as compared to $3,761,443 last year) and 27 percent in federal revenues of $890,000 (as compared to $700,000 in fiscal year 2015-16).
Marble Falls ISD gets 83 percent, or just about five-sixths, of its revenue from local taxes, while state revenue accounts for about 11 percent. Other revenue comes from federal sources, delinquent tax collections, penalties and interest and other sources.
On the expenditure side, the district payroll is expected to increase from $28,417,907 to $29,904,559 in 2016-17, an increase of just under $1.5 million. This increase is due to an across-the-board two percent salary increase for all staff as well as market adjustments of just about a half a percent as well as the hiring of new personnel because the district has approved going to a full-day pre-Kindergarten program. In order to balance the budget, the district is expecting to spend less on contracted services and supplies and materials.
Broken down by category, some of the larger district expenditures include $19,689,158 on instruction; $4,380,694 on maintenance; $3,499,700 for state equalization, also known as recapture under Chapter 41 of Texas Education Code, the infamous “Robin Hood” school finance system; and $2,074,692 for school administration costs.
LeMon said the district expects to have a $760,792 surplus in the general fund at the end of this fiscal year, which should bring the general fund balance up to $13,574,639. The Texas Education Agency recommends that school districts have an available fund balance equal to about 2 ½ months of operating expenditures in addition to having funds to cover anticipated cash flow deficits until property taxes are collected in January. With a balanced budget for 2016-17 for the general fund, the district does not expect any change in the general fund balance at the end of the next fiscal year.
The nutritional fund balance is expected to decrease to $382,545 at the end of this fiscal year due to capital outlay of about $229,015 for new kitchen equipment at some campuses. In 2016-17, the fund balance is expected to increase by about $46,084 to $428,629.
The debt service fund balance is expected to be about $7,210,785 at the end of this fiscal year, but will increase to $8,895,633 by the end of next fiscal year. This money is to be used on capital improvement projects in the district and is money raised through the district's interest and sinking (or debt servce) tax rate.
In other action Monday night, the board voted to approve engaging West, Davis & Company as the district's auditors at a cost not to exceed $16,950 to perform an audit of the 2015-16 fiscal year.
