Chron: Nearly $100 Million In District Fund Balance (Special Acct.)!

FORT BEND ISD
Board considers increase in tax rate, salaries
By ZEN T.C. ZHENG HOUSTON CHRONICLE

A 2-cent tax rate hike and a 3-percent pay raise for all employees are included in a budget proposal that Fort Bend Independent School District officials are fine-tuning for 2008-09.
Residents will have a chance to tell school officials what they think about the proposed budget of $474 million at a public meeting on Aug. 25 at 5 p.m. at the district administration building, 16431 Lexington Blvd. in Sugar Land. . .

. . .The proposed $474 million budget would include expenditures totaling about $11.3 million more than the 2007-08 budget.
As the proposed 2008-09 expenditures would fall short of the projected revenues by $9.3 million, district officials are considering dipping into a pool of funds known as the fund-balance account. The account, with a current balance of $93.8 million, is surplus money leftover from previous year budgets.

That balance exceeds the maximum amount of what the state recommends to keep in savings for rainy days by $18 million, according to officials of the Fort Bend Employee Federation, a district employee union that has been pushing for higher pay increases for classified employees such as bus drivers and workers at cafeterias and warehouses.
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MCC comment:

Do the voters realize that the district is keeping nearly 100 million dollars in a fund balance account from past budgets? How much more of our monies are being tucked away without our approval for a "rainy day".