On Jan. 11, members of the Aiken County Board of Education reviewed the district’s fund balance and found reserves to cover Christmas bonuses for employees and pay for two special disbursements.
The board’s policy is to always have a minimum of two months in its reserve fund. Ideally, the board prefers a three-month reserve.
During the Jan. 11 regular meeting, Tim Grow with Elliot Davis, LLC presented the financial audit for the year ending June 30, 2021.
“Revenues increased $24.4 million compared to the prior year, which is a big increase,” he explained. “One part of that was 4.7% increase on property taxes. But the biggest by far were the federal funding related to COVID and ESSER.”
The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds were signed into law to help school districts with COVID-19 expenses.
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The audit also showed the district has an unassigned fund balance of $53.5 million in its reserves. That is just over a three-month reserve.
“So, what this tells me is you have a good healthy unassigned fund balance,” Grow said. “I’ve done this a long time and not every district has the ability to say that that your fund balances as healthy as it is.”
The board voted to approve three, one-time uses for just over $2.8 million of the reserve.
The largest amount, $1.1 million, will be used to cover employee Christmas bonuses that the board approved during its Oct. 26, 2021 meeting. The $300 bonuses were paid to 3,400 employees just before the Christmas break.
More than $980,000 will be used to replace damaged or unusable band instruments in middle and high schools. For middle schools, it will be a $425 allocation per each band participants. High schools will receive $1,350 per each band participant.
The final amount of just under $740,000 will be used for furniture replacements. The money will be disbursed based on schools that have and have not benefited from recent construction and improvements.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
