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Politics & Government

Budget Deficit Disappears for Cobb Schools

The district expects to avoid a feared $50 million shortfall in fiscal 2012.

About a year ago, Chief Financial Officer Mike Addison delivered the painful news that 734 positions needed to be cut to eliminate a $137 million budget deficit.

But after three years of cuts, and despite warning last month of a possible deficit of $40 million to $50 million, Addison likely won’t be the bearer of bad news this year.

Addison, a 28-year district employee, was all smiles Wednesday as he told the Cobb Board of Education that he anticipates presenting a “balanced budget without a shortfall” in June for fiscal 2012, which starts July 1.

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“As we’ve gotten more information, we’ve revised our estimates, and we’re not going to have a $50 million budget shortfall,” Addison said. “It’s absolutely a very good feeling to not have to be searching for more areas to cut. But we are going to have to maintain the cuts we’ve already made. We just don’t have to make new ones.”

The board on Wednesday also placed 13 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax items on the April 28 meeting agenda, either as consent or discussion items. Among those involved additions, modifications or preliminary work at high and and elementary schools. The combined cost of the projects is $29.1 million, SPLOST Chief Administrative Officer Doug Shepard said.

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With regards to the budget, a combination of factors changed the financial story. The state’s net revenue collections in February increased $148 million from February 2010 to $715.3 million, a jump of 9.2 percent.

Addison said actual state revenue collections are tracking higher than the Cobb school system budgeted. Not having to account for an anticipated $27 million cut in state austerity funds contributed to the higher tracking collections.

Another factor is that Cobb County's property digest, the basis for property tax collections, is not declining as much as expected, according to the Cobb County Tax Assessor’s Office, which will issue final numbers in June. The assessor now projects a 7 percent dip in the digest, compared with a 9.5 percent fall previously predicted. That improvement also helped Cobb County close its budget deficit this week.

Addison also gained optimism from increased state collections of $95 million in individual income taxes, $33 million in sales and use taxes, and $9 million in corporate income taxes.

Addison told the board he will submit a budget based on 20 mills. But Superintendent Fred Sanderson said the 20-mill rate will include a $1.1 million rollback through excess SPLOST funds. The bottom line is that the millage rate for property owners will remain at the current 18.9 mills.

Board member David Banks said the rollover maneuver, which the district also used last year, could help preserve jobs. Without it, the district would have to make cuts to avoid raising the millage rate.

At the April 28 meeting Addison plans to discuss how his previous shortfall projections have changed.

The school board had two executive sessions Wednesday, one of 45 minutes and the second of about two hours. The board plans two executive sessions relating to the superintendent search—9 a.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Board Chairwoman Alison Bartlett said in February that she hoped to announce the three finalists for the position in April.

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