Ferguson-Florissant Board Approves $135.7M Budget with Deficit

Despite the Ferguson-Florissant Board of Education approving a $135.7 million budget for the 2013-2014 school year, a lot remains up in the air regarding the finances of the district.

The approved budget includes a $4.6 million deficit in the budget’s operating fund. Earlier this year, the deficit looked to be as large as $8 million, but a number of cuts and changes trimmed the budget to the $4 million mark. What the budget really rides on is a proposed tax levy.

Late last month, the board approved a measure for the Aug. 6 ballot, which will ask district residents to consider a 75-cent tax levy per $100 of assessed valuation to help with general operating expenses.

According to figures provided by district Finance Director Laura Modrusic, the tax levy could generate more than $6.4 million for the district and actually cause a surplus of $1.8 million by the end of the fiscal year.

Without the tax levy approval, more hard decisions will come down the pike. Everything would need to be put on the table for cuts, including staffing, schools and extracurricular activities, Modrusic said.

The biggest source of the deficit comes from lagging revenues at the local, state and federal levels. For example, Boeing’s property valuation decreased, which will result in $1.5 million in tax revenues not being received in the district. Other issues relate to decline in state aid, the rise in health care costs and the decline of residential property in the St. Louis County area.

According to figures presented by Modrusic, the forecast for next year would have a 16 percent decrease at the federal level and a less than half percent change between local and state levels.

Even with the simple majority approval of the tax levy, the district would have to be tight with its funds, she said.

“We need to look at expenditures and efficiencies,” Modrusic told the board.

She said that she and the budget committee would look at other cost-cutting efforts that would make the district more lean and efficient, and she hopes to be able to present the board with a five-year trend for revenues and costs.