Bibb school board approves revised budget amendment after $5.5M gap revealed
The district plans to revisit proposed reductions in February.
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The Bibb County Board of Education voted 4-3 Thursday night to approve a partial budget amendment addressing millions of dollars in previously unbudgeted costs, while removing a proposed $1.275 million in unspecified spending cuts that district leaders say will return for consideration next month.
Superintendent Dr. Dan Sims told board members the $1.275 million reduction was a real target but said the district was still working through the specific details of where those cuts would come from. Sims said removing the line item would require a return in February with a separate budget adjustment outlining those details.
District officials explained the error involved extra duty pay for transportation employees, unbudgeted positions tied to the Innovation and Technology Academy, security and staffing costs for athletic events and salary assumptions impacted by higher employee retention. The previously unbudgeted costs already existed but were not included in the original budget, leading to Thursday’s amendment.
Some board members questioned how the costs were left out of the original budget and raised concerns about transparency and oversight.
Later during the board meeting, the floor was opened for public comment.
One speaker told the board, “What I have witnessed today, and what the public has witnessed, and I am the public, is confusion and chaos.”
The board ultimately voted to approve the amendment without the $1.275 million line item for cost reductions “across various programs and departments.” Board member Dr. Henry Ficklin said he would not support approving that portion of the amendment without knowing exactly what programs or expenses would be affected.
Ficklin attempted to table the amendment altogether and later proposed finding other funding sources to offset the gap, but both motions failed.
The partial amendment approved Thursday includes cost savings and offsets, including shifting more than $1.2 million in Chromebook lease payments to E-SPLOST, along with new revenue and grant funding tied to specific expenses.
The revised projected ending fund balance approved Thursday totals $46,869,945.
Board member Daryl Morton said understanding the problem made it easier to move forward.
“When you know the exact nature of what the problem is, it makes it easier to deal with,” Morton said. “I have a lot of confidence in our finance department. They have done excellent work over the years, but there were some mistakes made here, and we need to make sure the public knows we’re correcting that.”
Morton said the issue ultimately came down to costs that were never included in the original budget.
“It appears that the biggest thing that happened is we simply did not budget for costs that were already supposed to be there,” Morton said. “They’re omissions.”
Ahead of Thursday’s vote, the school district shared with media a response from the Georgia Department of Education that had been issued to a local outlet’s inquiry about the budget discrepancy. In that response, GaDOE said the district was not required to report the issue to the state and that, based on publicly shared information, it appeared to be a routine mid-year budget reconciliation identified through internal financial reviews.
GaDOE also said it is standard practice for school districts to adjust budgets as actual figures become clear.
