At its January meeting, the Rhea County School Board found out - much to its surprise - that two buses obtained during the 2008-09 school year hadn't been paid for with funds budgeted that fiscal year.

Rhea County Finance Director Billy Graham told the board that the money set aside to purchase buses this year was used instead to pay for last year's buses.

Because of this, the 2009-10 school transportation fund was incapable of financing the two new 78-passenger buses. Graham said buses are typically paid for using local funds, but those funds are dried up now.

"My assumption was that the buses had been bought," Director of Schools Jerry Levengood said on Wednesday.

Graham told the board that he would have to take monies out of the general-purpose fund to purchase this year's buses.  The general fund normally pays for most expenses in the school system, including teachers' salaries, building, benefits, supplies and maintenance.

"We have no choice but to buy them," said Graham.

Due to state mandates on bus life, buses are required to go offline after reaching the 200,000-mile mark. While the state extended bus life from 15 to 17 years, rural counties often use the miles before the buses are that old, explained Levengood.

"Our buses are pretty high mileage," said Transportation Director Ronnie Holloway.
According to Levengood, the two new buses should be purchased in February for $155,373. The money to buy them is set to be taken from the general fund, but Levengood said he hoped the county would be able to reimburse the schools for the cost at a future date.

"We don't need to get into the habit of using the [general fund]," said school board chairman Dale Harris.

Graham assured the board that use of the general fund would be a temporary measure.

Michelle Friesen can be reached at michelle.friesen@rheaheraldnews.com.