FPS Budget Approved, Tax Levy
Lower For Third Straight Year

By Gordon HopkinsThe Fairbury Public School Board held their annual budget hearing on Monday, September 13. The proposed budget was $14,165,526.“We ended up only spending 89.85 percent of our adopted budget for this past year. So that’s really good,” FPS Superintendent Stephen Grizzle told the board. “When you look at our budget or any school budget, 87 percent of our budget is fixed costs, and the fixed costs are personnel, operations and transportation. That only leaves about 12.6 percent in discretionary funds.”Grizzle explained that most of the school district’s funding comes from property taxes.“We are a property tax district, we do not get state aid so-to-speak,” Grizzle said. “In the last seven years, since I’ve been here, we’ve been around $100,000 in state aid and most of that is the sales tax rebate, which is really not state aid.“So our state aid represents less than a percent of our revenue,” said Grizzle. “Property taxes represent about 80 percent.”The school is receiving help, financially, from the federal government in the form of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund, which provides money to school districts to support areas impacted by the disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic.The purpose of the hearing was to allow members of the public the opportunity to give input. Although some members of the public attended the meeting, no one spoke.The school board voted unanimously to approve both the budget as well as a property tax levy of $1.03 per $100 of valuation. Grizzle noted this was a two percent decrease from the previous year and is the third year in a row with a lower tax request.

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