Things are looking up financially

for the Fayette County school system, enough so to make good on a pay

raise for all employees starting in January.

But the district isn't

out of the woods just yet, Finance Director Jim Stephens told the Board

of Education Monday.

The good news is that the district

saved enough money through belt-tightening during the first five months

of the current fiscal year to make good on a promised pay raise to district

employees.

The across-the-board salary

increase of one-half percent per month is retroactive to July 1, so employees

will actually see a 1 percent increase in their checks after the first

of the year.

The good-faith measure was

offered as part of Stephens' regular mid-year amended budget, which

the board approved unanimously.

The adjusted spending plan

comes almost two months earlier than usual, said Stephens, partly by design

and partly by necessity.

"We're doing this

much earlier," said Stephens. "Last year it was February before

we made the adjustment, but the state is being much more open with us

this year."

State budget officials have

already handed down the yearly "austerity" adjustment, based

on amended enrollment figures and district needs. With it, said Stephens,

came word of still more budget cuts from the state level.

Superintendent John DeCotis

reminded the board that three years ago, almost 60 percent of the local

budget was paid for through state funds. The current budget splits the

responsibility nearly in half.

"We've added students,

we've added buildings but we've gotten less funding," said

DeCotis.

Added Stephens, "The thing

that has been our salvation and helped us through the years is the strong

growth in the Fayette County economy."

A significant increase in the

county's tax digest this year helped, said Stephens. Monday was the

deadline for paying Fayette County property taxes this year, the primary

source of revenue for the school system.

"The economy is getting

a little better but the people at the state level tell us that the government

is always about a year behind feeling the benefit," said DeCotis.

Additional savings have been

found through a hiring freeze applied in September to all non-instructional

spending. DeCotis noted that the freeze would be lifted and budgeted expenditures

allowed to proceed starting in January.

Also, several special ed teaching

positions and the like hired for needs that did not materialize have been

eliminated, saving more money, Stephens noted.

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