HCS draft budget shows dip in general fund

Hardin County Schools is starting the budget cycle for Fiscal Year 2013 with a general fund of $100.7 million, about $3.5 million less than what is appropriated for the FY 2012 budget.

The budget cycle begins with a draft budget, which is an estimate of what the district can expect for the upcoming fiscal year. Not all of the necessary information is available at this time for the budget to become more specific.

Salaries, as always, make up the majority of the budget. At this time, the district isn’t including any salary increases because there is no information from the state about funding for fiscal year 2013 yet, according to a decision paper from HCS outlining the budget.

Salaries for instructional staff are budgeted for $47.9 million.

The budgeted amount the district expects to receive from real property taxes, $18 million, has been rolled over from the current budget. The same has been done with Support Education Excellence in Kentucky funds, the district’s main funding source for the state, which is budgeted for $56.4 million.

The budget for the building fund and capital outlay fund, which are used for projects involving the physical properties of the district, is $10.9 million and $1.6 million, respectively, and also were rolled over from fiscal year 2012.

The food service budget is rolled over from the current budget and is set at $8.2 million.

The draft budget has been approved by the HCS board, and the second step, the tentative budget, will be discussed in May.

Kelly Cantrall can be reached at (270) 505-1747 or kcantrall@thenewsenterprise.com.