Lampeter-Strasburg school board details budget challenges
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Updated Mar 23, 2011 19:48
By CINDY HUMMEL, Correspondent
About 100 Lampeter-Strasburg residents learned details behind an anticipated tax hike during a Tuesday night town meeting.
District officials reviewed the draft 2011-12 budget, which includes a 2.95 percent tax increase using exceptions under state Act 1. Even so, the district faces a budget shortfall of $611,100, which it plans to partially plug with $400,000 in reserves.
Business manager Terry Sweigart said the district is still trimming the budget after already making $1.9 million in cuts, which include the elimination of positions.
Reasons for the unusually tight budget include higher health care and pension costs. The district also expects a reduced state subsidy, less income from realty transfer and income taxes, declining real estate values, a higher rate of delinquent tax bills and less interest income from investments.
Noting that the crowd was the largest he has seen in five years, school board member Scott Riekers said: "We need you there in this very uncharted territory."
Many residents had questions.
One woman asked how state legislation requiring the district to pay cyberschool tuition was passed. Riekers said the measure passed in 2001, originally reimbursing districts for one-third of the cost. The 2011-12 budget includes no state reimbursement for the more than $500,000 the district must pay.
Resident Mark Sellers, who called L-S a district "second to none in the county and probably the state," encouraged the district and residents to work together to get through the budget challenges.
"I think there are no easy answers here," Sellers said. "We have to make cuts all around."
Resident Bob Haldeman said some residents could not afford a 2.95 percent tax increase. When he added that he felt he had a better education in a school with eight grades and one teacher than L-S students do today, several other residents replied negatively.
Other parents offered money-saving suggestions, such as having sports operate independently, continuing early retirement incentives and charging more for use of district buildings.
A second meeting, covering the same material, takes place Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Martin Meylin Middle School, 1600 Book Road, Lampeter.
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/365700#ixzz1HYqiAHMa
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