Oconee County Schools ended the 2025 Fiscal Year on June 30 with $7.9 more in revenue than it had budgeted and with spending at $1.6 million less than projected.
The General Fund cash balance for Oconee County Schools on Aug. 31 was $53.8 million, down from $57.5 million a month earlier but up by $9.4 million from the Fund Balance on Aug. 31 of 2024.
The balance for the current Education Local Option Sales Tax (ELOST) Fund stood at $13.3 million on Aug. 31, down from $14.4 million on July 31, but up by $11.2 million from the balance on Aug. 31 of 2024.
Oconee County Schools received more than $1.1 million in ELOST collections in August, up 9.7 percent from the just more than $1.0 million received in August of last year.
Average ELOST collections across the last 16 months are up 6.5 percent from the same month a year earlier. Total collections for the tax since it went into place in January of 2023 now stands at $32.3 million, or just $5.6 million less than the projected $37.9 million intake from the tax.
Spending for the five major construction projects funded by the current ELOST is now completed, at $67.3 million.
The total costs of all five projects exceeded the original cost estimates by just less than $13 million, with the new Instructional Support Center costing $16.4 million, or $8.1 million more than the $8.3 million projected in 2019.
These figures come from the seven financial reports that Oconee County Schools Chief Financial Officer Peter Adams delivered to the Board at its meeting on Sept. 15.
Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Report
Adams presented to the Board on Monday (Sept. 15) both the Budget Report for August as well as the final Budget Report for the Fiscal Year 2025 ending on June 30.
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| Adams Approach Podium 9/15/2025 |
Adams noted that revenue and collections for the first two months of the current Fiscal Year were 9.4 percent of the budgeted total for the year, while expenditures were at 20.7 percent, higher than the typical 16.6 percent for July and August.
Adams said the expenditures included encumbrances, pushing the figure to the higher than expected percentage.
The closeout Budget Report for the 2025 Fiscal Year is unaudited, Adams said, but “it shows our position at the year end and compares our actual spending to our budgeted figures.”
The report says Oconee County Schools collected $2.8 million more in investment income in Fiscal Year 2025 than budgeted, $2.1 million more in title tax revenue, $0.8 million more in state Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula funding, and $0.7 million more in ad valorem taxes.
The $7.9 million in total additional revenue for Fiscal Year 2025 compares with $7.8 million in unbudgeted revenue in Fiscal Year 2024.
The Budget Report for June 30 showed $1.8 million less in spending for instruction than budgeted, $0.8 million less for transportation services, and $0.6 million less for pupil services.
The unbudgeted launch of the School Resource Officer program added $0.5 million in spending for School Safety and Security.
The $1.6 million less than budgeted spending in Fiscal Year 2025 compares with $2.8 million more in spending than budgeted in Fiscal Year 2024.
Cash Balance Report
The General Fund Cash Balance for Aug. 31 was $53.8 million, down from $57.5 million on July 31.
“Despite this month-over-month decline,” Adams told the Board, “our cash balances for August remain strong, and we're well positioned to meet our financial obligations for the fiscal year.”
The $3.7 million drop in the Fund Balance from July to August in Fiscal Year 2025 compares with a $5.8 million drop in those same two months in Fiscal Year 2024, and the General Fund Balance of $53.8 million in August of 2025 compares with a $44.4 million Cash Balance on Aug. 31 of 2024.
The ELOST Fund cash balance as of Aug. 31 is $13.3 million, with nearly all of that held in a Debt Service Escrow Account to pay off the bonds sold to launch the ELOST projects before tax revenue began being collected.
The ELOST Fund cash balance was $14.4 million on July 31, but it was only $2.1 million in both July and August of 2024.
ELOST collections have exceeded $1 million in 13 of the last 16 months, and collection has exceeded collection in that same month the previous year each of the last 16 months.
ELOST Spending
For the first time, Adams listed spending for construction of the Instructional Support Center as completed in his report on ELOST VI, the current tax.
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Adams reported the final cost of the Instruction Support Center at $16.4 million.
In 2019, the cost of the Instructional Support Center had been estimated at $8.3 million.
Final cost for Dove Creek Middle School was $39.2 million, up from the 2019 estimate of $36.6 million.
The classroom additions at Colham Ferry Elementary School cost $3.9 million, up from the 2019 estimate of $3.4 million, at High Shoals Elementary School cost $3.1 million, up from the 2019 estimate of $2.8 million, and at Malcom Bridge Elementary School cost $4.7 million, up from the $3.1 million estimate in 2019.
The total cost of those five construction projects was $67.3 million, versus a 2019 cost estimate for the five of $54.3 million.
Voters approved the current ELOST in March of 2021, with revenue projected at $37.9 million and capped at $48.5 million. Tax collection will end when the cap is reached.
Adams is now projecting that the cap will be reached by the end of 2026, and voters are being asked in the Nov. 4 election to vote to renew that tax as soon as the cap is reached.
Adams reported on Monday that the total revenue for ELOST as of Aug. 31 is $95.5 million, which includes the current collection of $32.3 million, $43.0 million from bond sales, $5.6 million in state funding, $1.3 million in interest, $6.6 million in General Fund transfer, and $6.7 million in rollover from ELOST V.
Total spending as of Aug. 31, including for bond payments, is $82.3 million, leaving the $13.3 million reported in the Fund Balance Report for Aug. 31 for ELOST.
Adams reported that ELOST spending continues on system-wide technology, the parking addition at Oconee County High School, maintenance paving, North Oconee High School hardware, and sports field lighting at Oconee County High School.
Other Action On Monday
Also on Monday, the Board agreed to spend $57,085 for a towable electric boom lift, to be funded in part with ELOST VI revenue. The sole bidder was Yancey Rents.
The Board also approved a fixed price contract of $458,773 with Northeast Georgia Regional Educational Services Agency (RESA) for special education direct support services in visual impairment, deaf/hard of hearing, occupational therapy, orientation and mobility, and speech and language therapy.
The Board also approved a modified Internet Acceptable Use policy to comply with the Protecting Georgia’s Children on Social Media Act of 2024.
The policy says that Oconee County Schools will create procedures or guidelines designed to “Provide reasonable opportunities and procedures for parents/guardians of students to confer and collaborate with school administrators and teachers regarding appropriate Internet access for such students.”
Oconee County Schools also will create procedures or guidelines designed to “Promote the safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms, and other forms of direct electronic communications.”
The policy also states that Oconee County Schools will create procedures or guidelines designed to provide students instruction “regarding safe and appropriate behavior on social networking sites, chat rooms, and other Internet services” and regarding “behaviors that may constitute cyber bullying, and how to respond when subjected to cyber bullying.”
Video
The embedded video below of the Sept. 15 meeting of the Board of Education is on the Oconee County School YouTube Channel.
I attended the meeting as well and recorded from the rear of the room, as is required by the Board. The still image above is a frame taken from the video I recorded.
Adams began his financial reports at 20:46 in the video.
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