Preliminary budget hikes taxes 3.85 percent (Kennett) - Daily Local News 2/16/2011

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Preliminary budget hikes taxes 3.85 percent
Kennett Consolidated officials predict more changes

Wednesday, February 16, 2011
By Wm. Shawn Weigel, Staff Writer

Kennett Consolidated school officials say they want to lower the proposed 2011-12 property tax rates with additional state funding and spending cuts before the budget's June deadline.

Monday night, the board unanimously accepted a preliminary 2011-12 budget that calls for a 3.85 percent property tax increase.

The plan would hike the tax rate by 0.95 mills, with a mill equal to a tax of $1 for every $1,000 of assessed real estate value.

That means a homeowner with a property assessed for tax purposes at $198,000 would pay $5,094 in real estate taxes next year.

The $72.2 million budget represents a $553,000 increase over the 2010-11 budget, according to district Business Manager Mark Tracy.

School board member Mike Finnegan, who heads the district's finance committee, said funding cuts totalling $1.06 million at the state and federal level have shifted the tax burden to local government.

"Kennett is not alone, nor has it been isolated, from the downward trend of the economy," Finnegan said. "However, our commitment and resolve to provide the best educational opportunities for our students remains unwavering."

That goal must be met, in an efficient, economical fashion, he said.

The 2011-12 school year also represents an "incredible change" in the district, Finnegan said, with the opening of Bancroft Elementary and the renovation of Mary D. Lang into a fulltime kindergarten center this fall. These improvements have been years in the making, Finnegan said, and constitute a major financial change.

In constructing the new budget, Finnegan said, the finance committee's proposed tax rate goes beyond the state-mandated Act 1 index and is therefore subject to exceptions from the state to remain at that level.

He said officials also restricted expenditure growth to less than 1 percent, which includes the necessary staffing and operational costs associated with Bancroft Elementary.

The district has also joined with area counties and schools in a competitive energy supplier pricing bid, Finnegan said, and officials have tried to offset salary increases by offering early retirement incentive packages.

"The objective between today and the final budget is to continue looking, searching and being innovative, to drive costs down without sacrificing our overarching mission and adversely affecting our program offerings," Finnegan said.

The state's current public education funding scheme pulls more than 80 percent of its revenue from local sources, Finnegan said, and that figure has risen steadily over recent years.

"Yet we're mandated by the state to provide many unfunded or under-funded programs," he said. "The stagnant real estate market and assessment appeals have eroded a once stable source of new revenue. In fact this year, with no tax increase, the district would recognize a loss over last year's revenue of $581,000 in real estate taxes."

A major problem to the budget's development is the unknown amount allotted for public schools under Goc. Tom Corbett's new budget.

Finnegan said $380 million previously earmarked for the Pennsylvania Department of Education's EduJobs program is now being absorbed into the state's budgetary reserve fund and is no longer available to schools statewide.

"Again, I want to remind everybody that this is a preliminary budget and can be viewed as a starting point for budgetary discussion," Finnegan said. "Just as last year, we will continue to search for ways to reduce the tax increase before we pass the final budget on June 13," Finnegan said.

The budget is available for public review at the district's office, which is open9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/02/16/news/srv0000010931409.prt
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