The Iberia Parish school system will have enough revenue to cover operational expenses and bond notes in the coming fiscal year, even without the $812,000 revenue it sought to shift from its capital projects tax to operational tax, Superintendent Dale Henderson said Thursday.

Henderson pitched a revenue-neutral plan that would have increased revenue from its constitutional and maintenance and operation tax and reduced income from its bond indebtedness tax by the same amount.

Property is reassessed every four years. If the assessed value increases, millage rates for most property taxes must be rolled back, or lowered, to a level that keeps revenue the same as the previous year.

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For the School Board, that affects its constitutional tax and maintenance and operation tax. The property tax that goes to pay off bonds — loans the School Board makes to build new schools or renovate existing schools — is not affected by the reassessment. Its rate remains the same.

The plan didn’t fly with School Board members when they voted last week to roll back rates for the constitutional tax and maintenance and operation tax — which is required by law — then chose not to increase those rates. The administration’s plan to reduce the tax rate for its tax that pays off bonds was passed, giving property owners a tax break.

The superintendent said the only reason the school system sought to increase revenue in the constitutional and maintenance and operation tax fund was because the bond tax could be reduced without affecting the school system’s ability to pay back bonds.

“They’re two different animals — they really are,” Henderson said.

After Wednesay’s vote, Business Director Jimmy LeBlanc said he removed the anticipated revenue of $812,000 from its proposed 2008-09 budget. That put the board technically in deficit spending of $2.1 million for the year. Those expenses, however, include some costs for building the new Caveview Elementary School, which will replace Peebles Elementary damaged by Hurricane Rita. The new school also will include students from Grand Marais Elementary. LeBlanc said that the board already has $3.2 million in revenue from the past two years that will go toward paying for that new school and would cover the deficit.

“The school system is in good financial shape,” Henderson said.

However, Henderson and LeBlanc still worry about ever-rising fuel costs that could go beyond anticipated increases built into next fiscal year’s budget.

“Our food costs have gone up 36-percent over past three years,” LeBlanc said.

The difficult part about creating a budget, Henderson said, is trying to anticipate what might happen in the future. Increasing the revenue to its general fund would have given the school system greater latitude to cover those costs that could rise above expectations.

“I have to look at potential needs of the system,” Henderson said.

The result of the School Board’s tax break, LeBlanc said, is that reserves in the bond fund will grow at a slower rate. The bond fund is estimated to be at about $5 million when the School Board’s fiscal year ends June 30. That includes the fall payment of about $1.5 million for bonds, leaving a balance of $3.5 million by the end of this year. By the end of 2009, the balance in that fund is anticipated to be $3.7 million.

Overall, the school system has about $27 million in reserve, LeBlanc said, which is about what it costs to run the system for three months.