Oconee County Schools received $1.3 million in revenue from the Education Local Option Sales Tax (ELOST) for December 2024 collections, the largest amount received in the two years the 1 percent tax has been in place.
The December 2024 collections were up just less than 9 percent from the $1.2 million intake for December of 2023 and represents the eighth month in a row that collections have been more than $1 million.
To date, Oconee County Schools has collected $24.8 million from the sales tax approved by voters in March of 2021.
The tax is scheduled to run for three more years, with a collection cap of $48.5 million.
“This is a record month of collections,” Oconee County Schools Chief Financial Officer Peter Adams told the Board at its regular meeting on Monday (Feb. 10).
Adams’s report on ELOST collections was one of his six usual financial reports to the Board.
Adams also told the Board that Oconee County Schools has spent $3.7 million of a budgeted $7.4 million in Federal funds and has received reimbursement to date of $2.7 million.
Adams made no mention of what impact the ongoing cuts in federal funding will have on Oconee County Schools, and no Board member asked.
Short Meeting
Adams was the only member of the school administrative team addressing the Board at its meeting on Monday.
No citizens spoke during the Public Communications section of the meeting, and the meeting ran just 18 minutes.
The only action items were approval of a bid of $198,596 by Virtucom for 262 laptop computers and of a bid of $88,245 by ByteSpeed for 111 desktop computers.
Both purchases will be paid for with ELOST and General Fund monies.
Following its usual executive session at the end of the meeting, the Board approved the personnel recommendation of Superintendent Jason Branch that five teachers end their employment with the system, four on May 28 of this year and the fifth on August 2.
The Board also approved the hiring of one bus driver and the termination of employment of another bus driver.
The Board recognized Rocky Branch Elementary Cafeteria Manager Carrie Gibson as the February Pursuit of Excellence Award Winner and received a Points of Pride presentation by Malcom Bridge Elementary School administrators and students.
Financial Reports
Adams told the Board that the General Fund Balance stood at $74.95 million on Jan. 31, down from $77.9 million a month earlier.
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The January Budget report shows that Oconee County Schools has collected $47.0 million in ad valorem taxes, or 95.6 percent of the budgeted amount of $49.2 million, and $1.2 million in investment income, or 2,437.9 percent of the budgeted amount of $50,000.
“Our balances in January are strong,” Adams assured the Board. “We are well-positioned to meet our financial obligations.”
ELOST collections first exceeded $1 million in July of 2023 and have been above that amount all but four months since.
The largest collection month prior to December of 2024 had been December of 2023.
The Board sold bonds generating just less than $43 million after passage of ELOST VI in March of 2021 and has made only one payment of $3.9 million against the $46.7 million owed on the bonds to date. A payment of $4.9 million is due this year, and payments are scheduled to run through 2033.
Spending Update
Adams reported that $69.6 million has been spent to date on projects that fall under ELOST VI, with spending still open on Dove Creek Middle School, classroom additions at Malcom Bridge Elementary School, the Instructional Support Center, and systemwide technology.
In the last month, spending for the Instructional Support Center has increased from $16,293,619 to $16,303,219 and for systemwide technology from $2,721,408 to $2,765,941.
Adams reported that the nearly $1 million gap between the $3,693,256 in spending of federal funds and the $2,717,884 reimbursement is normal because Oconee County Schools is reimbursed only after monies are spent.
“We’ll see these funds continue to come into the budget throughout the remainder of the fiscal year,” he told the Board.
No member of the Board asked Adams any questions or made any comments when Adams had completed his six financial reports.
Video
The video below is of the full Feb. 10, 2025, meeting of the Board of Education.
As required by Communications Director Steven Colquitt, the recording is from the rear of the room.
Adams made his report at 13:49 in the video.
3 comments:
It is a breath of fresh air to see a BOE member(s) interacting with students and administrators at a public meeting! In regard to ELOST revenues, the millions of dollars OCS gets from this type of taxation is important despite the fact that our all-Republican school board continues to raise property taxes year after year after year. Raising taxes locally is wise considering federal funds may be cut drastically.
I published the comment above since David Lawrence has commented before with his full name as well as his moniker Retired Teacher Lawrence.
I just want to remind those who submit comments that I require a full, correct name.
Thanks.
Lee
I published the above comment without a full name, since David Lawrence has commented before with both his full name and this Retired Teacher Lawrence
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