By Staff
Belcher: Line items are ‘meat and potatoes’
By DAN PARSONS, Staff Writers
Beaufort County Schools Superintendent Jeff Moss presented the board of education with a $19.6 million budget for requested capital projects for the fiscal year 2007-2008.
The budget included everything requested from all school principals in the system, totaling $7 million, not all of which will ultimately be included in the budget. The remaining $12 million will be for classroom additions, Moss said.
Details of the budget were not made available at the meeting and school system officials were not able to provide a copy of the budget Wednesday.
Moss had gone through and made recommendations on which of the items he considers priorities for the fiscal year 2007-2008.
One of Moss’ recommendations was the purchase of an activity bus. The system operates 18 activity buses that are purchased on an 18-year cycle, meaning when one becomes 18 years old, it is replaced.
Purchased on a cyclical basis as well are the eight lawn mowers the system operates. They are replaced when one becomes eight years old, a time frame board member H. E. Boyd thought could be lengthened with regular maintenance.
Board member F. Mac Hodges suggested having the schools sign contracts requiring them to regularly service their mowers, a plan that Moss agreed would be more effective in increasing the lifespan of a mower.
Belcher prepared the board for disappointment in the amount of funding the county will get from the state lottery
The board will reconvene Thursday to discuss what they consider priorities that should be included in next year’s budget.