The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA
Spring-Ford's early budget includes 7.6 percent tax hike
School officials emphasize more work coming on $131.6 million spending plan
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
By Phil Ellingsworth Jr., Special to the Local News
ROYERSFORD — The Spring-Ford School Board voted 7-0 Monday night to approve a 2011-12 preliminary budget that includes a proposed 7.6 percent tax hike to close a $10.4 million budget gap.
Members Bernard F. Pettit and Mark P. Dehnert were absent from the meeting.
Board President Joseph P. Ciresi reaffirmed the $131.6 million budget passed Monday is preliminary and the board will "dive into it" during the next few months to see where cuts can be made that will not affect the quality of education.
A multitude of items affecting the district's budget include property reassessments and uncertainty about how much funding to expect from the state and federal government, Ciresi said.
During a previous school board meeting, district Business Manager Timothy C. Anspach informed school officials that property reassessments could cost Spring-Ford Area as much as $4 million because companies based inside the school district are applying to Montgomery County for tax re-examination.
"We are being killed by the reassessments," Ciresi said.
Ciresi said Gov. Tom Corbett has warned "catastrophic" cuts will be made in the state's budget, and Ciresi said that will not help in a time when school districts are trying to balance their own budgets.
School board members also unanimously voted to apply to the state for Act 1 exceptions. These exceptions include allowances for special education, instruction, health care and contributions to the Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System to avoid a local referendum on a tax increase.
Even with the proposed tax increase, Spring-Ford Area is facing a $4 million budget deficit, Anspach said during a Jan. 18 budget presentation.
The district must submit a final budget to the state by June 30.
URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/02/16/news/srv0000010933661.prt
© 2011 dailylocal.com, a Journal Register Property
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated. Although I asked people to sign their comments (or at least use their initials), I have only been getting 'anonymous' comments. I have changed the settings to that the posts will need some sort of identifier.