“This is the best budget in ten years.”  That’s what Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools Chief Financial Officer Mike Reuter told the school board during a Tuesday morning work session.  The school administration is proposing a spending plan totaling $204.96 million for calendar year 2016.  The planned expenditures are roughly $2.4 million more than the projected revenues of $202.47 million, with the difference made up from the school system’s cash balance.  Even with that, Reuter projects the HSE Schools cash balance to be at $33.49 million at the end of calendar year 2016.

HSE Schools have been struggling financially ever since the Great Recession of 2008.  The changes in the state school funding formula in the last legislative session have helped the school corporation.  HSE finances have also been bolstered by higher assessed property valuations.  Another piece of good news is the rolling off of some of the debt incurred during the growth years of the school district due to building costs.  Reuter says he expects the school system will issue a general obligation bond in 2016 allowing the purchase of new computer equipment that is woefully outdated in many school buildings.  A number of HSE Schools employees are still using computer equipment utilizing floppy disk drives. Reuter says the bond can also be used to repair and maintain buildings.

Reuter projects the HSE Schools portion of the local property tax rate will decrease slightly in 2016 at $1.13 per $100 of assessed valuation, down 0.67% from 2015.  “When you look at our rates, this is the only thing, as a school corporation, we control is the tax rate,” Reuter said.  “We don’t decide who pays.  That’s a legislative decision and that’s a very confusing point for our community.”   According to Reuter, some residential property owners have seen their tax bills increase due to increased assessed valuations or because the “circuit-breaker” provision of state law applies in their case to go outside the property tax caps.  He also gave the example of a local business owner with no increases in assessed valuation since 2010, who is now paying less than 2%  more per $100 of assessed valuation in the school’s part of the property tax bill.

A public hearing will be held at the October 14th school board meeting on the budget proposal, with final approval expected at the October 28th session.

Reuter also provided preliminary enrollment figures for the 2015-2016 school year.  Based on those initial numbers, enrollment is up by 259 students, or a 1.26% increase over the previous school year.  Total enrollment is 20,832 for all grades.  Reuter says these numbers are not final, but should be very close to those figures when used by the state.