The Lunenburg County School Board is holding an organizational meeting and public hearing Jan. 14 to discuss the schools’ Fiscal Year (FY) 2019-2020 budget and get input from residents about the proposed budget.

The meeting is scheduled to be held at 6 p.m. at Central High School, 131 K-V Road, at Room 104.

When The Dispatch contacted Lunenburg County Public Schools (LCPS) Superintendent Charles M. Berkley Jr. Thursday about obtaining a copy of the budget, he said a copy was not immediately available.

During the Dec. 13 Lunenburg County Board of Supervisors meeting, Assistant County Superintendent James Abernathy said that LCPS, in November,

received the sales amount not available in August.

Sales tax revenue from June are typically distributed to school divisions in August. The section that allows for this distribution on the state level was amended to allow more time for the June accelerated sales tax to ensure their accuracy. What school divisions received in August, Abernathy said in a previous Dispatch report, was not the complete amount from the June accelerated sales tax. Once that sales tax is approved, then LCPS would receive the full amount.

Because the accelerated sales tax took place in June, it was technically considered funding for the FY18 school year.

Abernathy said due to this unexpected development, the school division had to transfer $39,000 from the textbook fund to the general fund.

Abernathy said the total state sales tax amount for November was $235,891, as a result of the funding that were held from August’s sales tax amount.

Detailing another bit of good news, Abernathy said student enrollment is up approximately 70 more students than what LCPS initially budgeted for.

Brown’s Store District Supervisor Mike Hankins asked whether the sales tax revenue was a one-time incident, or something that LCPS would consider for its budget going forward.

Berkley said that was LCPS’ understanding of the situation, that LCPS would consider this amendment for the sales tax distribution in its budget.