Pilot Point school board members have approved a balanced budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year.

The budget shows overall expenditures at more than $13.7 million.

Board President Larry Smith said he’s pleased with Superintendent Glenn Barber and his staff’s work to control district expenses. With this budget, Smith said he expects district reserves to reach the highest level in years.

“We got a balanced budget, and that’s what we want every year,” Smith said. “There’s just a lot of good things going on in the school district.”

The school board approved the budget unanimously Thursday.

Pilot Point’s new fiscal year starts July 1. A tax rate will be set in August. The current tax rate, approved by voters last October, is $1.39 per $100 valuation. Of that, $1.17 is set aside for maintenance and operating costs, the maximum state law allows.

Because the district will not receive certified assessed property values until mid-July, expenses for the 2009-10 fiscal year were based on preliminary local property values as well as last year’s values.

Barber said the district learned its local property values are projected to be about 2 percent to 3 percent lower than last year’s values.

On average, the district collects about 96 percent of its local property taxes, so Barber said he based the district’s fiscal budget on 7 percent less, knowing that assessed values are expected to be lower and there may be some delinquent taxes.

He said district leaders attempted to underestimate revenue and overestimate expenses, which helps produce a balanced budget.

This is the third consecutive year that the Pilot Point district has passed a balanced budget. Several cuts in staff and programs have been made in that time to get it done, and with only $150,000 in reserve funds, passing a balanced budget is the best option because the district doesn’t have much to fall back on, Barber said.

“We have to balance and run programs at our campuses as tight as we can,” he said.

Figures from the 2009-10 budget show a $2.36 million increase in total expenses compared to the previous fiscal year. Barber attributed that to a change in the fiscal calendar.

In 2008-09, the district had a 10-month fiscal year, from Sept. 1 to June 30.

With its new budget, the district will move from a Sept. 1 fiscal start date to July 1, and finances will become better aligned with the regular school year, Barber said.

According to the 2009-10 adopted budget, the district anticipates local property taxes to generate more than $7.2 million in revenue for district expenses, while other allotments will come from state and federal funding.

General expenditures are estimated at more than $11.5 million, including about $199,000 that is budgeted to add to the reserve fund.

“It’s a tight budget, just as it has been the last three years,” Barber said. “It’s a fiscally responsible budget taking care of taxpayers, and I’m glad we were able to balance it, especially with the way the economy has been. It hasn’t been easy.”

BRITNEY TABOR can be reached at 940-566-6876. Her e-mail address is btabor@dentonrc.com .