Although the Newton County School Board anticipates an additional $2.1 million from the tax digest this year, they elected to not include the sum in the budget they approved Tuesday night.

According to an announcement made by Deputy Superintendent for Operations Dennis Carpenter at the June 7 board of education work session, Chief Tax Appraiser Tommy Knight recently announced that the county may have a less than expected loss in the tax digest. However, Knight urged caution, saying that tax appraisal appeals are pending, some from large commercial and industrial accounts.

Superintendent Gary Mathews asked - and board members agreed - that the money not be added to the regular budget that was approved June 14 because they were not certain how much they would receive.

The board agreed to amend their budget when the amount of money they will receive from the tax digests was finalized, and not to allocate funds they didn't technically have yet.

Those numbers will likely be in before the end of summer.