COLUMBUS - More than $100 million dollars have been approved for Columbus Public Schools' 2015-16 budget.
With a new high school on the horizon the CPS Board of Education approved a $104,276,069 budget at their meeting Monday night. The amount nearly doubles that of last year's, but it won't cost citizens anymore in property taxes as the levy was approved at 1.254-percent.
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“The owner of a $100,000 property will actually be paying about $1 less on property taxes this year than they did last year,” CPS Executive Director of Business Operations and Human Resources Dave Melick says. “If you have a $200,000 property it's going to be in the neighborhood of $1.70 to a $1.90 difference.”
The main factor that leads to the budget's 75-percent increase is the $45.2 million coming out of the Special Building Fund to pay for the new high school, where $2.8 million was used from the same account last year.
Approximately $46.3 million of the budget is coming out of the General Fund which is about $980,000 more than last year. According to Melick, roughly 46-percent of the General Fund comes from property taxes, while the other 54-percent is provided by grants and other resources.
During his meeting presentation Melick cited increased compensation for all staff, six new teacher and para-educators, a new Pre-K classroom at West Park Elementary, and a reduced utilities budget as other factors that led to changes in the General Fund budget.
Courtesy: DLR Group
Courtesy: DLR Group
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