The Gwinnett County Board of Education recently learned that its 2012 property tax collections have come in slightly above the amount that was anticipated and upon which the Board based the current budget, according to Gwinnett County Schools spokesperson Jorge Quintana.

This is good news for the district, and the Board members wanted to make sure it translated into good news for GCPS teachers and employees, according to a recent news release. The Board authorized CEO/Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks to put these unexpected financial resources toward something extremely valuable -- the district's human resources.

"It's a one-time salary adjustment due to property taxes coming in not as
low as we projected," said Quintana. "We were projecting a 7.5% decrease and they went down by 6.5%."

As a result, every full-time, benefits eligible employee will receive a salary adjustment this month in the amount equal to one full day's earnings at his or her current daily rate. The one-time salary adjustment will be paid in a lump sum in the paychecks issued in November. The average GCPS teacher (T-5, Step 11) will receive an approximate $300 pay adjustment and the range for teachers will be between $200 (T-4, Step 0) and $456 (T-7, Step 32).

Financial Impact:  $4.3 million to be funded from additional unbudgeted
local revenue collected due to a smaller than projected decline in the
local property tax digest.