Columbia Board of Education reviews more than $300 million budget
Nia Hinson
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Talks continued Wednesday night within the Columbia Board of Education about how it plans to spend money for the upcoming school year and the impact it will have on the district’s five-year plan.
The budget is made up of roughly $307 million. About 77% of that operating budget is comprised of staff salaries and benefits, marking a $10 million increase.
The Board had approved a new salary schedule in April, which included pay raises to base salaries for employees in order to help recruit and retain teachers.
The district’s funds includes total fund balances for the district, as well as its operating funds, comprised of general and teacher funds. According to meeting documents, CPS experienced a nearly $7 million decrease in its fund balance.
That was caused by excess expenditures in the Capital Projects fund, according to documents. The opening of schools, such as John Warner and Eagle Bluffs Elementary have also had a significant impact on funds, documents say.
Chief Financial Officer Heather Mcarthur told ABC 17 News the district is spending down its capital project money on those various projects. Mcarthur said to be able to continue being able to do that, as well as make other large fixes, they now have to ask voters.
“Any kind of new bond issues has to be authorized by the voters so before we can plan on that, we’d have to go to the voters,” Mcarthur said. “So, any additional money for capital improvements beyond what our local property tax supports, which is in the 3 to $4 million range that goes into that fund, would have to be going to the voters for authorization for new general obligation bonds.”
Discussions were also had Wednesday regarding debates around property taxes in Missouri. Some lawmakers have proposed a flat income tax and cutting the overall rate. Mcarthur said she worries what this could mean for CPS, which largely relies on it.
“Our district is very highly locally funded, so for the 2025- 2026 budget, about 64% of our total revenue comes from local sources and over 50% directly from local property taxes. If you think about that $300 million, 150 million dollars of it comes directly from property taxes,” Mcarthur said.
The board will vote to approve the budget during its regular meeting on Monday.