HANCOCK COUNTY — With only a couple of months before 2022 arrives, school districts around the county are setting their budgets for the year.
All told, the county schools are set to spend about $170 million next year.
The Southern Hancock School Board approved the district’s budget on Oct. 4 at the school board meeting. According to district documents, Southern Hancock plans to operate on an estimated $41.3 million budget. The breakdown has $6.7 million going toward debt services; $24.4 million toward education; and $10.2 million for operations.
The district will receive over $3 million more in 2022 compared to 2021.
Wes Anderson, district communications director said the reason for the increase is due to the fact there is more money in the state budget formula per student.
“The other piece is because how fast our community is growing,” Anderson said. “The assessed value of our entire district has gone up, which means there is more available money for the taxing entities.”
The Eastern Hancock School Board also has voted to approve the district’s 2022 budget, estimated at $15.4 million, Superintendent George Philhower said. The EH budget breaks down with $1.5 million going toward debt service; $8.2 million for education and $5.7 for operations.
The total is almost $1 million more than the 2021 spending plant.
The Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation board earlier this month passed an estimated $56.08 million budget for 2022. That includes $28.1 million for the corporation’s education fund; $10.7 million for operations; and $16.7 million for debt service.
All told, it’s about a $6 million increase from this year’s budget.
Greg Elkins, chief financial officer for Mt. Vernon, told the Daily Reporter in an email that much like Southern Hancock, the school corporation’s budget is growing as the district’s populace and economy does.
The Mt. Vernon school district’s net assessed valuation will increase 14% to 15% for the budget year 2022, Elkins said.
“This is a phenomenal increase,” he said, adding it allows the corporation to finance roofing and HVAC improvements district-wide, add cafe and performing arts space at the middle school and buy six new buses without raising the debt rate.
Elkins added Mt. Vernon’s total levy is expected to increase 12% — less than the assessed valuation growth — so it should result in a decrease in the school corporation’s overall tax rate.
The Greenfield-Central School Board is expected to pass its proposed budget for 2022 at the next school board meeting on Oct. 18.
The nearly $55 million budget is fairly consistent with last year’s, Superintendent Harold Olin said.
The budget allocates just under $30 million for education; $15.1 million for operations; and $8.8 million for debt service.
The proposal to build a new school auditorium, projected to cost $20 million to $25 million, is also expected to pass next month after receiving positive public feedback in September.
District officials across the county remind taxpayers that while boards may have approved budgets for 2022, the figures are subject to change once the Department of Local Government Finance assesses the budgets.
This story was reported by Kristy Deer, Mitchell Kirk and Shelley Swift of the Daily Reporter staff.
