At the September meeting of the Callaway Board of Education, the tax levy request and property tax request for the school district were unanimously approved. That approval came after a public hearing that started the meeting, as well as a public hearing in front of the Custer County Board of Supervisors, which was required because the district was asking to go over the lid set by the state.

In an article that appeared in the Oct. 2 issue of the Courier, we began our conversation with Callaway Public Schools Superintendent JD Furrow about the district’s budget and tax asking. As Furrow explained the way the system works, he shared that the timing of the county’s collection of tax revenue and disbursement of those funds to the school districts has a huge impact on how those districts operate. That can sometimes be confusing on paper.

“We get all of the money that we are taxing for, we are just getting it later than we used to,” Furrow said. “And so, because of our trend and where we start our year, we have to build up our coffers so that we will have enough money to operate during the lean times.”

Furrow said that schools will often use the money that sits in their accounts that they don’t rely on monthly and invest those dollars to generate interest, which is another way of providing tax relief for district patrons. “Last year, we tried our best to estimate how much we could do. In working with the bank, we decided that we would try to start with investing $1 million in CDARS (Certificate of Deposit Account Registry Service),” he explained. “The only difference between that and a CD is that it is not locally backed. Our local bank will take that money and invest it in other bigger banks, and the interest rate that you can theoretically get is a little higher because the big fish can back it. Our local banks are school-friendly and work really hard to give the school the best rates they possibly can.”

The district invested $500,000 in a 1-year CDAR and $500,000 in a 2-year CDAR, which is still locked up for this year. “We are trying to get our money to earn some money,” he said. “Last year, because we had money locked up in CDs, we ended up overspending our general fund. So we set up a $300,000 line of credit so there would be a buffer. In the end, we netted well over $30,000 in interest from our CDARS investments, and we paid close to $2,000 in interest for those lines of credit. So it’s a definite positive.”

The board and administration also have plans for improvements to the school, which include developing recently acquired property to be utilized by the district. “We are trying to create a plan where we can keep paying our staff competitively, and those expenses are going to continue to go up. And we have got to start putting some money away so that we can do building plans without having to go to the bank and borrow money,” said Furrow. “We are trying to make plans that will be friendly to our taxpayers. Right now they feel like they are taking a big left uppercut, but we are trying to make it so that in the long run they will actually end up paying less.”

Furrow also noted that the current CPS board is very conservative, and they also see the numbers and agree that the requested $400,000 budget increase this year is what the district needs to do.

“I know a lot of our constituents feel that the reason we are going up is because their valuations went up. That is totally independent of one another. We had to go to the county hearing because of the real dollars that we were wanting to tax. Their valuations did not affect the dollars that we have to tax,” Furrow explained. “That is hard for people to understand, because they have seen their valuations go up like they have probably never seen in their lifetime. And then we had to go to this meeting that we have never had to before, so it seems hand in hand because they both deal with taxes. But in reality, they have nothing to do with each other.”

He keeps a copy of the homestead certificate for a family member's ranch as a reminder of his roots - he says it keeps him grounded. “I am a Sandhills kid, I get it,” he shared. “I get agriculture and how the markets ebb and flow; I’ve lived it my whole life.”

Furrow completely understands that the issue is complicated and confusing, and encourages any district patrons to come in and talk to him. “I love to share our story,” he said. “Transparency is one of my biggest things.”