Harlan Kirgan
The St. Landry Parish School Board’s treasury is flush with local tax revenue and federal funds from COVID recovery and possible stimulus money to come.
Sales tax revenue is “still coming in strong,” said Tressa Miller, finance director, at a meeting of the Board’s Finance Committee on Monday.
Miller said there was a 17% increase in sales tax revenue in February compared to a year ago.
The School Board collects two 1% sales taxes in the parish. One is for the Board’s general fund and the other is dedicated to employee compensation and benefits.
The employee fund is healthy enough now that Miller and Superintendent Patrick Jenkins said a $600 Christmas stipend is possible and it may be good for $1,000 by the November when the bonus is put in pay checks.
Jenkins said he is looking to see if it is possible to give employees a bonus this spring in recognition of their work during the pandemic.
Board member Raymond Cassimere said the budget, which runs from July to June, should reflect the $600 available from the dedicated pay fund and $400 from the general fund for a stipend.
“We’ve had a successful year even though we were planning for a $2 million deficit,” he said.
Board member Randy Wagley cautioned that the general fund cannot be used for bonuses, but agreed the stipend needs to be put in the budget.
Jenkins said he is looking at other sources of funding for bonuses. One suggestion is to give $1,000 this spring and $1,000 for Christmas bonuses, but Jenkins cautioned that could cost up to $4 million.
The $600 bonus for full time employees given in November 2020 cost $1.4 million.
The dedicated fund from which the bonus is paid had a balance of $4.4 million as of February. The Board has a targeted balance of $2.775 million to cover three months of expenses. The February balance for the Christmas stipends as of February was at $1.6 million.
Cassimere asked if a $1,000 bonus is possible for this November.
“Yes sir,” Jenkins said, “If we trend like we’ve been trending the last two years.”
Jenkins said if people continue to spend stimulus money locally, the district will likely have the money for $1,000 bonus in November.
The district’s general fund budget is showing a surplus of $4.968,836, which reflects the collection of property taxes in January and February. Since July 2020, local revenue ranged from $1.1 million to $1.6 million, but in January local revenue was $9.8 million and in February it was $6.3 million. The increase in January and February is due to property taxes.
Miller said that surplus has to last through June. The district has budgeted to end the year with a $1.8 million deficit. In reality, the district in recent years has not experienced the deficit at its fiscal year end in June.
The district is also receiving $7.3 million in Elementary & Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) money that is used to compensate for COVID expenses. The district has spent $5.5 million of that money.
But that is dwarfed by the $32 million the district may get in ESSER funds beginning in June and to be budgeted through 2023.
Eunice Board member Albert Hayes Jr. questioned the spending of the ESSER funds.
“I recommend that we have a retreat or extended discussion before any of it is spent because I have some ideas and I’m sure everybody has some ideas,” he said.
Hayes said the Board should approach the money “as a family would. This is our stimulus, if you will.”
Jenkins said there has been no guidance about how the money is to be used.
“We will never see that kind of money again,” he said.
However, Jenkins said he does not know how much money the schools system might get from the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan.