School Board Adopts Budget With Millage Rate Decrease

The Oconee County Board of Education last week approved unanimously an $82.3 million Fiscal Year 2020 budget that includes a decrease in the millage rate from 17 to 16.5.

More than half of the revenue in the budget--55.0 percent--comes from the state, with local sources, primarily property taxes, contributing the remaining 45.0 percent.

The budget includes salary raises for teachers and staff and anticipates spending an average of $9,976 for each of the projected 8,253 students in the system.

The Board also approved at the regular meeting last week a bid of $319,058 with Centegix of Atlanta for a crisis alert system, to be funded through a state security grant.

It also approved a bid of $101,040 with Virtucom for purchase of 120 desktop computers. The funding will come from Education Local Option Sales Tax revenues.

For more on the story, including videos of the most recent regular and work sessions of the Board of Education, with special clips of the recognitions parts of those two meetings, pleased go to Oconee County Observations.