On a recommendation from interim Superintendent Dr. Martha Liddell, the Columbus Municipal School District’s Board of Trustees Monday voted to hire an additional security guard for Columbus High School.
“We want to show that we have the best interest of our students in our hearts,” Liddell said. “We only have one officer for 1,300 students. We want our high school students to feel safe.”
Newly appointed board member Jason Spears questioned Liddell on the length of the proposed hire.
“How long will we have this person on payroll?” Spears asked. “Do we plan on increasing our security in the coming school year? Is this something we are going to be talking about?”
Liddell said the new hire would last through June 30 and additional security for the upcoming school year will be discussed at a later date.
Chief Financial Officer Kenneth Hughes updated the board on the status of the fiscal year 2012 budget. Hughes made the presentation at the request of Board President Tommy Prude.
“We have requested to do this on a monthly basis,” Prude said. “Our goal is to have complete transparency for the community.”
Hughes said the total request for ad valorem taxes was $13,391,187.
Ad valorem tax is a tax assessed to real estate of personal property. The taxes are requested by the school district, through millage rates. In 2011, Hughes said the district needed $14.33 million in ad valorem taxes to operate, which would require a 9-mill tax increase; the increase only could be enacted, if passed through a public referendum with three-fifths of the popular vote. A mill is worth about $205,000 in the city school district, down from $208,000 when the district was setting its budget last year.
“We have collected $351,617 from homestead exemption and $11,946,341 in ad valorem taxes,” Hughes said. “We have an additional $1,093,229 to collect over the next four months. If we continue at the rate we have been going, we should be on budget for the needs of the year.”
Jeff Clark was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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