During their meeting Tuesday, The Anderson School District One Board unanimously approved a balanced budget of $114,070,843 for the 2024-25 school year.
The new budget reflects an increase of $7,726,479 over the current budget of $106,344,364
It also includes an increase in the millage rate from 158.05 (the lowest in Anderson County), to 166.05, which will generate an additional $1,155,776 in revenue. The increase in millage affects taxes on cars, boats, rental properties and businesses.
Under the draft budget presented to the Board at the April 23 meeting, the District was facing a deficit of approximately $1 million before any employee raises.
State mandated employee step raises, employee raises, Career and Technology Center tuition increase, paid parental leave, health insurance, property and casualty insurance and mental health counselors added an additional $2,975,000 in expense to the budget over last year.
Most of that was offset by the final State budget which provided an additional $2,868,276 in revenue for the District.
Salary increases recommended by Superintendent Robbie Binnicker, to help keep the District competitive in hiring, added an additional $1.75 million in expenses to the budget.
Binnicker recommended a 2.7 percent salary increase (including step) for teachers and 2.5 percent increase (including step) for assistants, bus drivers, custodians, nurses, bookkeepers, attendance, clerk/secretary and food service employees. He also recommended a 2.5 percent increase (including step) for non-salary scale employees.
The starting salary for a teacher in District One will be $47,940, which is $1000 to $2000 less than neighboring school Districts in the Upstate.
Teachers in District One will get a $1,000 raise plus the mandated step raise. Teacher Assistants, bus drivers, nurses, bookkeepers, attendance and clerk/secretaries will see a five percent increase plus step. Non-salary scale employees will receive a 2.5 percent pay increase.
Due to growth in District One, a total of eight new teachers will be hired for school year 2024-25.
To balance the budget, the Board was faced with making reductions in personnel, supplies/materials and purchased services on the expenditure side, along with an increase in the millage (tax) rate and use of the reserve fund balance on the revenue side.
Supplies and materials was reduced by $155,329 and Equipment/Capital purchases reduced by $314,300.
On the revenue side, the millage rate was increased from 158.05 to 166.05 resulting in an additional $1,155,776 in revenue. The additional funding provided by the State was combined with a previously assigned but unused $675,000 from the fund balance for the 2023-24 budget and an additional $1,278,554 from the fund balance this year, to balance the budget.
