Trustee Bill Hullander said the state set the one percent fee his office charges for handling funds for the Hamilton County Department of Education.
County School officials on Thursday decried the charge, saying it takes up to $4 million a year that could be used for school needs.
Supt. Rick Smith said Trustee Hullander presented $6 million in excess fees to county government. He said, "$4 million of that was our money."
School Board member Jonathan Welch said changing the trustee charge is his highest priority for getting more money for the schools.
He said the large sum is paid just for transferring funds to the schools.
Trustee Hullander said he cannot change the fee himself. He said it would have to come from the state legislators.
However, he said the County Commission could agree to pass some of the money on to the schools after it goes into the county general fund.
Trustee Hullander said the amount of excess fees collected by his office - over and above office expenses - last year was over $6 million.
He said this year it will be $7.3 million. He said county finance officials had been hoping for at least $7.1 million, but the amount will be higher than that.
The trustee sad, "We do spend an awfully lot of time figuring out the school funds situation. They are a big part of what we do since they receive over half of the money that is taken in."