Bibb County School District to amend budget after $5.5M personnel cost error

District leaders say offsets and new revenue would still increase the projected fund balance.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The Bibb County School District will present a formal budget amendment to the Board of Education on January 15 after identifying a $5.5 million discrepancy in the FY 2026 budget caused by miscalculated personnel costs.

Superintendent Dr. Dan Sims disclosed the error in a four-page memo in December, obtained Friday via an open records request. In the memo, Sims writes that the district failed to account for several salary and benefit obligations in the approved budget. Despite the multi-million dollar oversight, the district expects to end the fiscal year with a $1.1 million increase to its fund balance due to newly identified tax revenue and other cost savings.

According to the memo, the $5.5 million discrepancy stems from four primary areas:

• $2,435,000 in transportation: Calculations for bus driver pay only accounted for 5-hour shifts and did not include essential duties like fueling, inspections and travel for athletic events.
• $2,030,000 in salary and attrition: Higher-than-expected employee retention meant fewer staff members left the district, which caused actual salary costs to exceed the “attrition factor” used in budget estimates.
• $577,000 for the Innovation and Technology Academy: The budget did not include four specific positions, including an AI teacher and a Director of Partnerships.
• $458,000 for Security and Athletics: Increased requirements for campus police and personnel service agreements for athletic events exceeded past spending trends.

To address the gap, the district identified $8,818,021 in offsets. This includes $3,853,858 in additional tax revenue from maintaining the millage rate and $1,256,000 in savings from a shift in the timing of Chromebook purchases.

In a response Friday to the memo and its release, the district said “the amendment would increase the District’s projected FY2026 ending fund balance by approximately $1.1 million, resulting in a fund balance-to-expenditure ratio of approximately 16.3%.”

“The Bibb County School District regularly reviews its budget throughout the fiscal year to ensure accuracy, transparency, and responsible use of public funds,” the response said.

Sims wrote in the memo that “multiple steps are being taken to ensure this does not occur again,” including “a more accurate review of anticipated actual salaries, confirmation of allocated positions with all departments during the budget season, and more accurate calculations of additional duties of operations personnel based on current trends and District needs.”

The district has placed a pause on all non-essential spending and hiring while the finance department reconciles the accounts.