Lexington, SC - On Tuesday, June 23, 2020, after a public hearing and during a meeting of the Lexington County School District One Board of Trustees, district administrators approved a 2020–2021 general fund operating budget that is less than this year’s general fund operating budget.
Last year, fiscal year 2019–2020, the district budgeted operating revenues and expenditures of $295,123,749. The district’s General Fund operating budget for fiscal year 2020–2021 is $287,079,334.
The $287,079,334 in estimated operating expenditures and revenues for 2020–2021 represents about a 2.7% decrease over last year. It consists of approximately 87.7% salaries and related costs, 7.7% for programs and services, and 4.6% for utilities and maintenance.

The projected General Fund operating budget is a decrease of $8,044,415. This consists of a decrease of $7,122,595 in employee salaries and related costs (2.7% decrease) and a decrease of $921,820 in programs and services (2.5% decrease).
The projected General Fund operating budget:
includes a net gain of 15.55 staff positions to accommodate growth;
does not include salary or step increases at this time due to uncertainty of state funding;
includes funding to meet state and federal requirements; and
budgets $3,698,221 from fund balance ($4,557,338 less than last year).
In this budget, the district does not request an increase in operating millage. Due to reassessment, the current operating millage of 322.40 mills will be reduced to 308.86 mills.
Lexington District One’s debt service millage currently is 90.0. The district will request a 5.0 mill increase to 95.0 to cover debt service on the 2018 Bond Resolution debt issued to date.
Each year, because of the one-cent sales tax generated by the Lexington County School District Property Tax Relief Act, a portion of that 95.0 mills for school bonds is offset by a tax credit, meaning that no Lexington District One taxpayer pays the entire 95.0 mills, no matter what type of property tax.
A Lexington District One resident with an owner-occupied home valued at $100,000 will pay about $280 a year in total school taxes of any kind (general fund and capital) on that home.
For more information about Lexington District One’s 2020–2021 General Fund operating budget, visit the district’s website at bit.ly/Lex1budget.
