Frazier board votes to keep tax rate low
PERRYOPOLIS – The Frazier School Board managed to hold the line on taxes for a fifth consecutive year with the help of an additional $142,624 in state subsidy used to balance the 2002-2003 budget and eliminate a $120,712 deficit. The final spending plan will keep real estate taxes at 51.65 mills, while the board earmarked 2 mills last year for upcoming renovations to Central and Perry elementary schools.
Unlike many are school districts that opted to refinance bond issues with the additional subsidy, Frazier chose another use.
Superintendent Dr. Frederick Smeigh noted that with the additional subsidy, Frazier has the lowest tax rate of any school district in Fayette County.
Because Frazier never adopted a final budget before June 30, the district was not mandated by the state to reopen its spending plan but was restricted from paying any expenses except those associated with contracts.
“We knew we were in a good financial position to wait,” said John H. Lowery III, school board president.
Smeigh said Frazier was not affected by the restriction because purchase orders were submitted before that date, and the board voted Wednesday to pay this month’s bills. Board member John Keffer was absent from the meeting.
Tom Shetterly, business manager, said the increase in state aid amounts to 3.7 percent, which includes an additional $222 the district received for special education and $2,000 for vocational education that were distributed into the general fund.
Shetterly added that $50,000 for a mobile wireless lab from the tentative budget was transferred from the capital-reserve fund back into the general fund. The district also netted a $79,000 savings from two additional retirements.
“That was essentially the only changes that were made from the previous budget,” said Shetterly.
Without the additional subsidy, the district was looking to raise taxes by 2.62 mills to balance the budget, which initially called for $11,193,735 in revenue and $11,314,447. The budget now stands at $11,274,972.
In a separate matter, Smeigh presented the board with a copy of his response to recent newspaper articles regarding Perry Elementary as one of six local schools identified as academically troubled under a new federal law because of low test scores.
Smeigh said the editors of the Herald-Standard and another local newspaper have agreed to publish his response, which indicates that Frazier has one of the highest average composite scores on the Pennsylvania State System of Assessment (PSSA) test in the region, according to a report issued by Standard and Poors.
“We were the victim of a flawed formula passed by the federal government,” said Smeigh. He added that the district is mailing 4,000 copies of his response to the community.
In other business, the board agreed to amend the criteria for nomination and selection into the Hall of Fame, to indicate that anyone who has lived within what are now considered to be the boundaries of the school district and graduated from a high school within those boundaries at the time is eligible.