The Madison County school board passed a $39.15 million budget Monday, down 4.5 percent from last year’s spending plan, after hearing from one unhappy citizen.
The board of education (BOE), which approved the budget 5-0, drew criticism from county resident Bill Holloway, who says the school system isn’t spending in proportion to the county’s ability to pay.
Madison County Schools Superintendent Mitch McGhee defended the budget, saying the system must pay for mandated expenses and has made “heart-wrenching” cuts in other areas to prevent a tax increase.
Holloway, the only citizen to appear at Monday’s public hearing, took issue in particular with salaries, which he said are too high for Madison County’s demographics. Holloway noted McGhee’s salary and benefits package, which totals around $143,000 annually.
Holloway contends that Madison County Schools shouldn’t try to compete with RESA averages for pay since other school systems in the RESA benefit from bigger businesses and larger sales tax bases.
“It’s just a bigger burden on the taxpayers of Madison County to pay this kind of thing than it is compared to the other counties in this RESA,” Holloway said.
McGhee countered by saying that the sales tax revenue in other counties to which Holloway referred can’t be spent on salaries or any other general budget expense. Based on property tax revenue (which funds the general budget), Madison County is better off than several systems in the RESA, McGhee said.
Although the system increased a local supplement to try to attract more quality teachers — part of the system’s strategic plan — McGhee said Madison County’s salaries are still below the RESA average.
As for his own salary and benefits, McGhee compared his pay to the superintendents of the eight school systems most similar to Madison County. McGhee said he makes about $8,000 below the average of those superintendents.
Still, Holloway was displeased with school taxes increasing at a higher rate over the last 10 years than other areas of local government.
McGhee said that’s a result of a tax shift at the state level.
“I know to many it sounds like an excuse, but it’s well-documented that the state has put the burden more and more on local systems,” McGhee said. “And where the state used to have a much higher percentage for education, they’ve pushed that farther and farther down on the local system.”
The system must also cover mandated teacher raises based on the state’s salary scale, he added.
In fact, Madison County Schools will pay about $1.45 million more this year in costs tied to personnel, including step increases in teacher pay and health insurance coverage expenses — costs over which the school system has no control.
