To all who follow or may be somewhat interested in the May 9th meeting. The first 30 minutes was dedicated to recognition of teachers of the year for each school. The "meat" of the meeting followed. ESPLOST (Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) results continue to exceed all expectations. April figures were $486,986; the average is $370,000 against the original $300,000 monthly projection. For the first 27 months of the ESPLOST term revenue is over by almost $2,000,000. This year Jan was $480,000; Feb $417,000; March $422,000. That means ESPLOST will expire probably in 2023. Mr. Floyd presented the budget for 2023 for approval in June; year starts July 1. Anticipated local revenue is $13,900,000 State revenue will add $22,000,000 for a total of $35,995,300. These are estimates since the digest is not finished. State figures are firm and include a "put back" of the last $750,000 Covid cut. Two local revenue producers the TAVT or vehicle tax doubled to $1,400,000. Real estate transactions doubled from $85K to $195K; good indication digest will increase. Mr. Floyd suggested that if the current revenue trends continue, the board could offer a millage reduction from the current 12.569. Total fund equity for the system is $13,213,000. As you might guess there was no discussion of the budget in any area whether staff, maintenance, admin etc. Supposedly this had been approved by the BOE before. As the current chair has said on various occasions, "we have talked about this among ourselves." Wonder why all of us missed that?