York County citizens are invited to speak about the upcoming fiscal 2017 budget at tonight’s school board meeting.
The school board is hosting its first formal public forum on next year’s operating budget during its meeting at 7 p.m. today in York Hall, allowing residents to offer their input before Superintendent Victor Shandor releases his fiscal 2017 budget proposal.
The meeting, postponed from Jan. 25 because of last week’s snowstorm, comes a day before the school board’s joint meeting with the York County Board of Supervisors.
Based on Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s biennium budget proposal for fiscal years 2017 and 2018, York County School Division is expecting an increase in state revenue of about $2.12 million, much of which the state has earmarked for specific expenses, said YCSD Chief Financial Officer Dennis Jarrett at the Jan. 11 school board work session.
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The York County School Board’s public forum regarding the fiscal 2017 budget will take place during today’s 7 p.m. meeting in York Hall.
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McAuliffe’s budget proposal is subject to changes from the General Assembly, which is currently in session.
When accounting for the projected Virginia Retirement System expenditure increase, the school division will receive a net revenue increase of about $1.75 million if McAuliffe’s budget passes as proposed last month.
In the Jan. 11 work session, Jarrett offered a preliminary outlook on the potential expenditure increases facing the division, which includes the mandatory expenses that come with McAuliffe’s education initiatives, if they pass.
In addition to any state mandates, Jarrett said Anthem is projecting a 17 percent rate increase for the division because of major increase in large claims in the past year. If YCSD dips into reserves from its health insurance fund of about $6.8 million, it can cover about 12 percent of that increase.
“We’ve had a 100 percent increase in our large claims,” Jarrett said. “We are above the norm in our large claims, so the expected trend would be over the next year or two years, that would drop back down.”
If the division offered a 2 percent step increase for all employees, it would cost $1.54 million. Restoring one step for all staff members who have lost four steps would cost about $908,000.
Shandor is scheduled to present his fiscal 2017 budget proposal at the school board’s Feb. 8 work session.
