Published Tuesday, May 06, 2008 9:21 AM
Updated Tuesday, May 06, 2008 9:22 AM

 

District spends $5.7M on school, administration utility bills

Stratford High School costs the school district $496,322 in electric, water and sewer costs per year.

The school is a heavyweight of utility usage in the county, and one of a handful of other schools tipping the scale of upwards of $300,000 or more per year.

In total, Berkeley County School District spends $5.7 million per year to keep lights, air conditioning, electricity and heating on at public schools and administration buildings.

The numbers were recently crunched by the district Energy Manager David Hogge. The district executive director for financial services Brantley Thomas released the data on Berkeley County School District school and administration utility usage on April 22 at the regular school board meeting.

The 2007-2008 school year is projected to be $100,000 under budget, Thomas said.

With the addition of Cane Bay High School and an energy cost hike of 5 percent, the school district may shell out around $6.5 million next year, he said.

Of the $185 million budget this year, the utility costs represent 3 percent of the budget, Thomas said. Next year's budget may be between $195 and $198 million. Around 90 percent of the school district's budget goes to salaries and fringe benefits, he said.

Lindsay Street is a staff writer with The Independent. Contact her at 572-0511.