By MELISSA PEACOCK

RESERVE – Felix Boughton, executive director of Business and Finance for St. John the Baptist Parish schools, said he is currently working on the budget for the new fiscal year and already knows what areas will be cut – all of them.

At a recent School Board meeting, Boughton told board members to expect about a $4 million cut into surplus funds by the end of the fiscal year. While officials expected at least a $2 million dip into the reserves, some board members were a little surprised by the updated figures.

“We suspected that it (the surplus) would be low,” School Board President Gerald Keller said. “But we were hoping that sales tax would take an upward swing.”

In June there was $6.2 million in the surplus. By the end of this year, Boughton predicted, the surplus will be around $2 million.

“There are really four reasons for the change,” Boughton said. “We were $800,000 under in sales tax. We spent $900,000 for a one time raise for everyone in December.

“There were 20 more teachers than we had last year (tacking more money on in salaries and benefits). And we are spending $750,000 in health insurance.”

It is hard to pinpoint one exact cause of the drop, he said. While low sales tax revenue and exorbitant insurance costs are primarily economic factors, the salary supplements doled out to St. John Parish school employees were approved by the School Board and did account for part of the reduction in the surplus.

On Dec. 5, the School Board voted 9-1 in favor of giving school employees a one-time salary supplement. Under the plan, certified personnel received $800 and support personnel received $600. The school system paid about $900,000 total for the supplements.

Less than a month earlier, the board approved a controversial salary increase for principals. The raise boosted some principals’ salaries as much as $4,000 to $5,000 annually. The raise was issued in response to the increasing responsibilities imposed on principals as a result of the new K-8 reconfiguration and (state and district) accountability policies, Superintendent Michael Coburn said in a November interview.

However, funding for those raises came from monies saved in the budget (from a reconfiguration of the school system’s legal council). The raises, Coburn said, should not have impacted the surplus.

Despite some criticism, Keller and other board members said the supplements and salary hikes were needed. Salaries, Keller said, will not be cut next year, even if the financial situation does not improve.

“We do not want to go backwards,” Keller said. “We were 20 teachers over-staffed this year. We do not mind spending in that area if it improves education – but we may have to cut down on teachers.”

That does not mean anyone will be terminated. Instead, the school system could opt not to replace teachers who retire or leave the system for personal or professional reasons. Between 40 and 50 teachers leave the school system every year, Keller said.

Auditors recommend the school system keep about 5 percent of its budget in surplus. Five percent, Boughton said, is just a little more than $2 million, putting the School Board right at the recommended surplus level at the start of the new fiscal year (June 30).

“We are going to, certainly, make more adjustments,” Keller said. “There is still $2 million in surplus that we may have to use (next year) to balance the budget. We still have a little cushion, but it is not that wide.”

Board members hope that construction on a new energy plant, and other businesses slated to come into the parish, will boost tax revenues.

Until then, Coburn said, “We’ll just have to tighten our belts.”