BY DEBBIE PAGE
After a work session and board input on January 18, the Mooresville Graded School District Board of Education approved its proposed local current expense and capital outlay budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year on Tuesday night.
In presenting the budget, Superintendent Jason Gardner commented that “as good stewards of the money provided we endeavor to maximize each dollar provided to us to the betterment of the children we serve. We are thankful for the funding provided by Iredell County Commissioners and sincerely appreciate your dedication to our children.”
The district’s revenue reflects estimated funding based on this year’s appropriations.
Local revenues are projected to decrease slightly from the current year, falling to $27,935,733 from $28,303,544, which is reflected in reductions in some budget areas.
At the January work session Angie Davis, former chief finance officer, noted that Fund Two is money received from the county commissioners and Fund Eight consists of direct grants or revenues the district receives directly but that flows through the county commissioners.
Davis reiterated that this budget is a plan since state funding and any new rules will not be complete by MGSD’s local budget deadline in March.
Because the state budget is incomplete, Davis estimated calculations for district contributions for salaries and benefits to increase b an average of 3 percent, with the employer matching retirement rate projected at 25 percent, an increase of .96 percent from the current rate of 24.04 percent.
She estimated the employer portion of health insurance for each eligible employee to be $8,200, an increase of $105 from the 2024-2025 rate of $8,095.
Gardner noted that several years ago, MGSD undertook critical renovations at two of the district’s oldest school buildings, Park View Elementary and South Elementary, to increase building capacity across the district and ensure that all students continued to be provided with a safe and sound educational facility.
However, this self-funded initiative has significantly impacted the MGSD capital budget and its ability to maintain the quality of existing buildings. Gardner and the district asked in a letter to County Manager Beth Milton that the county consider assuming the debt payments for these projects to free up approximately 40 percent of the district’s capital budget.
The reallocation would enable MGSD to focus on maintaining other aging school buildings and tackle larger projects such as HVAC upgrades, ensuring that the district continues, in partnership with the county, its goal of maintaining high quality facilities for all students.
Gardner also noted that with the expiration of ESSER dollars, any recurring expenses originally funded by these dollars have been eliminated or absorbed into the local current expense budget.
The 2025-2026 budget continues to reflect increases in many areas due to economic impacts, including insurance premiums, fuel prices, supplies, and materials.
WORK SESSION
At the January work session, in addition to the 2025-26 local budget, the board also heard an update on the recently received $1,500,000 athletic grant.
Scott Smith, chief of operations and Michael Royal, chief of schools, reviewed how these funds have been spent, including:
● Repaving track and tennis courts at Mooresville Middle School;
● Purchasing 13 new automated external defibrillators (AED);
● Purchasing new sound system at Mooresville High School stadium;
● Upgrading sound system at Mooresville Hight School baseball/softball fields;
● New sound systems at East Mooresville Intermediate School, Mooresville Middle School, Mooresville Intermediate School, and Rocky River Elementary School gyms;
● Storage building at Selma Burke Middle School;
● Field maintenance on all schools;
● Approximately $270,000 earmarked for equipment will be spent by June 2026.
In a review of capital projects, Smith reviewed projects at each school along with the long-range capital planning. Discussions were held concerning keeping up the maintenance issues at each school.
Smith noted on their prioritization list, all high priority items are complete, so the district is now focusing on medium and low priority items.
The district is also incorporating a new FMX facilities management system which manages all work orders, provides the repair history of each asset, and a projection of maintenance performance. The district used some of its ECF grant funds to purchase the FMX services.
The next phase of FMX utilization is a facility condition assessment of the district’s 1.2 million square feet of facilities. Smith added that FMX will help the maintenance department keep up with the condition of all systems, buildings, and exteriors.
Everything will be inventoried and all assets tagged with a QR code for quick access to all its information and work history. The inventory started on February 10, with the system planed to be fully functioning by March 1.
After the inventory assessment, FMX will create an interactive map of district facilities. Maintenance staff can open building blueprints and click to check on every district-owned item in each room and assess its condition.
The FMX inventory will also help the department create a maintenance schedule for better preventative maintenance to ensure longer performing assets. FMX will send maintenance schedule alerts and a projected completion date until the work order is cleared.
Smith noted that FMX can help the district project future capital needs and prepare for any replacement cost increases in the coming years.
Gardner noted other available capital revenue sources and their designated uses, including:
$3,552,221 from Public School-based Capital Funds;
$330,000 from the Needs-Based Lottery Fund: and
$340,692 from the Repair & Renovation Lottery Fund.
2024-25 MGSD Budget
The current 2024-25 total budget has projected revenue of $84,098,48, with $43,614,523 coming from the state public school fund and $26,179,276 from the county, local supplemental taxes, and fines and forfeitures. Other revenue sources are federal program funds, capital outlay, and Fund 8 current expense moneys.
The district’s fund balance was $17,234,407 on July 1 of this budget year.