The Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board approved a 2017-18 budget of $12,274,843 following a public hearing during the June 28 meeting.

Before final approval of a budget, the board must first hold a public hearing for questions and comments. The budget presented during the June 28 meeting was the same as the proposed budget that was approved during the June 14 meeting and is available for review by the public on the district website (fountainhillsschools.org) or by visiting the District Office.

No discussion was offered during the public hearing and the budget was approved unanimously later in the meeting.

As discussed during the June 14 meeting, the base support level for FHUSD is actually up by about $2 million in comparison to 2016-17. The general budget, covering maintenance and operations, is $9,859,349. Add in $2,415,494 from unrestricted capital, and you get this year’s total budget of about $12.3 million.

Local educator, Dr. Paul McElligott, asked for some clarification in terms of the raises outlined in this year’s budget, with Superintendent Dr. Patrick Sweeney filling in the details.

Sweeney explained that the budget included a one percent raise to base pay for local educators, as well as a 1.06 percent raise from the State, which was approved during the same meeting. As Sweeney clarified, this raise is a statutory requirement and comes from provided funds and could not be approved in place of existing raises. The stipulation is that a teacher must have taught within a district the previous year to be eligible for the 1.06 percent increase.