Raises and more in the Horry County schools $890M budget. Here are 4 things to know.

With an $891 million budget in front of them, leaders of South Carolina’s third largest public school district have a lot to consider as they prepare to vote on next year’s spending plan.

Horry County Schools chief Rick Maxey and his team laid out his tentative budget for 2022-23 that includes some big changes and details on how officials aim to use millions in federal coronavirus relief aid.

Here’s a look inside the proposed budget, which takes effect July 1 following board approval.

1. Employees get pay raises and there’s money for new hires

More than 500 new students are projected to join the district in 2022-23, boosting the costs for hiring more staff. Officials are also suggesting $2,000 raises for all teachers and nurses, along with resumption of a 2 percent step increase that was put on hold through the pandemic.

Those adjustments, plus higher contributions for retirement and health insurance, means the district will be paying out nearly $28 million more next year for personnel costs. Benefits and salaries account for nearly 87 percent of entire budget.

There’s also a planned $1 million added as an supplement in an effort to keep the district’s sports teams competitive by luring and keeping skilled coaches.

Officials are also requesting money to hire a risk manager and 6.5 more teachers to work with non-native English speaking students and their families.

“This will provide some additional support in area schools that have a high concentration of these students,” Gardner said.

2. Federal relief is spread across two years

More than $50 million worth of coronavirus relief aid is built into next year’s plan: $12.5 million must be spent by Sept. 30, 2023, and the remaining $39 million by the same time in 2024.

Plans call for using part of that money to cover the costs of 61 teachers in grades six through 12, pay for $20.5 million worth of HVAC improvements district wide. Administrations also want to use almost $3 million to swap out roofs and spend $250,000 to bring more laptops into the hands of students.

3. Capital upgrades anchored by new school construction

In December, Horry County voted on a conceptual design for Whittemore Park Middle School on 39 acres in Conway — a $58 million project will have the capacity for around 1,050 students.

Officials are setting aside $29 million in 2022-23 capital funds just to address replacement costs for the site, Gardner said. Other major capital priorities include $11.2 million for an upgraded bus lot, $3 million worth of playground repairs and $4.7 million to install artificial turf at high school stadiums.

4. There is no tax increase amid revenue boost

When classes resume in August, the district anticipates educating 588 additional students, bringing total enrollment to 45,383. Should board members adopted Maxey’s budget as is, the district will have $62.7 million more to operate with.

John Gardner, the district’s chief finance officer, said property tax collections are expected to jump by $9 million, and another $7.7 million is anticipated through a 1 percent levy adopted in 2008 that finance school construction projects.

Despite adding hundreds more pupils, district leaders are expecting to lose $1.5 million from student activity fees, such as registration costs for field trips, but are budgeting nearly $2 million more from school lunch distributions.

“The pandemic actually impacted that tremendously,” Gardner said of the drop in activity fee dollars.

This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 5:00 AM.