TCS Board looks at FY2025 budget

Published 7:51 pm Tuesday, September 10, 2024

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The Troy City Board of Education got a look at the school system’s FY2025 finances during a Tuesday night budget hearing.

The total budget for the system was $23.6 million FY2025 compared to a $28.6 million budget for 2024 fiscal year budget. The lower FY2025 budget was the result of federal COVID funding expiring on Sept. 30. The FY2024 federal funding was $8.6 million compared to next year’s $2.8 million in funding. 

Troy City Schools Superintendent Dr. Cynthia Thomas said the expiration of federal COVID funding has caused the school system to be more careful with its budget, but the school system remained on solid financial footing. 

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According to the budget, there is a slight increase in student enrollment, up from 1,693 students in September  2023 to 1,705 students enrolled in September 2024. The system also saw a slight increase in the number of teacher units from 98.86 to 99.00 – a change of 1.02 teacher units. On the administration side, the number of principals (three), assistant principals (two-and-a-half), counselors (four), librarians (three) and career tech director (.25) all remained the same.

There was also a rise in salaries from FY 2024 to FY 2025 dues to the 2 percent pay increase approved by the Alabama Legislature earlier this year. Total salaries rose from $6.8 million to $7 million for FY2025.

The school system also has $21.5 million in debt from four bond issues dating back to 2011. The debt service on those bonds is $1.595 million, or 6.4 percent of the annual budget.

The board is scheduled to take action on the FY2025 budget at its Thursday night meeting.

See the Saturday edition of The Messenger for a more detailed look at the Troy City Schools FY2025 budget.