PENDLETON — State budget cuts could cost Anderson School District 4 roughly $500,000 this year, school officials said Monday night. Also, the search continues for a new superintendent.

The district, with a general fund budget of $22 million, has a financial reserve of $5 million, but that’s a normal emergency fund and balance used to cover months when tax payments haven’t arrived. In addition, the state mandated a 3.8 percent pay raise for teachers, some utility costs are rising, and health care costs continues to increase, school officials said.

Acting Superintendent Maurice Lopez said local revenues also have been dropping.

“It looks like our fund balance is going to be down $300,000 this year,” Lopez said.

Finally, there’s the fact that 85 percent of the system’s budget is personnel costs, so any cuts not made in personnel are magnified because the money would come from the remaining 15 percent of the budget.

“So much of your cost is in personnel,” Lopez said. “That leaves only a small amount of things to cut.”

Already, Lopez said, principals have been asked to hold back 20 percent of their non-personnel budgets, and the district has cut travel.

South Carolina’s economic advisers said they are looking at an additional $415 million reduction in tax revenues on top of 3 percent cuts announced in August. District 4 Board of Trustees chairman Tom Dobbins said the General Assembly could be called back soon to determine where to make the reductions.

In other matters, District 4’s search for a superintendent continues. There is a possibility the school board could meet next week to reduce the seven candidates, Dobbins said. During an executive session, board members asked the Columbia search firm to match the candidates with community concerns from an earlier survey, respond to several specific questions and report back to them, Dobbins said.

Two District 4 employees have applied for the post, several are from out of state and the others are from South Carolina, Dobbins has said. He declined to name the candidates.

Former Superintendent Gary Burgess retired effective Aug. 1 and had served from June 2003.