No speakers at Charles City School Board’s public hearing on $9.2 million proposed budget

No speakers addressed members of Charles City’s School Board during a Feb. 7 public hearing on the recommended $9.2 million budget.

Superintendent of schools David Gaston provided an update to the board on recent budgets passed by the state Senate and the House of Delegates. While early numbers are raw, Gaston indicated that both proposals carry additional funding for Charles City, with an expected minimum increase of $44,000.

While many representatives didn’t comment much on the work session that followed the public hearing, at-large representative Steve Fuhrmann reemphasized his stance on asking for additional money from county leaders to assist in the budget.

“As I said before, if we are going to ask for more dollars I suggest that we specifically earmark where those funds will go to,” Fuhrmann said. “I am not comfortable asking for an increase of $403,000 from our local partners.

“I am, however, comfortable asking for $172,000 from them,” he continued. “I am in strong favor of increasing teachers’ salaries and our starting scale and that is the amount I calculated it would take to get that accomplished.”

School board members are expected to present their budget to the county’s board of supervisors in March.