Central Greene School Board mulls 7-mill tax hike
WAYNESBURG – Taxpayers in the Central Greene School District should brace for a tax increase for the second time in as many years, after the school board voted Thursday to adopt a $21.18 million tentative 2002-2003 budget that contains a seven-mill tax increase. Before casting votes, however, several directors chastised the state Legislature for not doing more to tighten the gap between state and local funding for education after learning that almost 55 percent of the budget will come from local sources.
Business manager Walter Stout said the budget was compiled based on Gov. Mark Schweiker’s proposed 1-percent increase in state public education funding and without information about special education funding.
He said a state budget has yet to be passed, but he has heard that it could be approved in as soon as two weeks.
Regardless, the 2002-2003 preliminary plan contains a 3- percent increase in personnel costs and a staggering 60 percent increase in bonds and insurance, which Stout said was related to the events of Sept. 11.
Another increase was seen in Internet and communications costs, which Stout said had been paid primarily through grant funds over the past three years. He said the 39.75 percent increase in that category reflects the district having to pick up more of those costs.
New textbooks for the language arts classes that had been removed from the 2001-2002 budget were returned for 2002-2003, which was the reason for the 65 percent increase in the textbook budget item. Stout said the textbooks will be paid for over two academic years after the district reached an agreement with the publishing company.
The spending plan is 4 percent higher than the current budget, if the seven-mill increase is included in the total.
Stout said the budget has remained relatively the same since last year, with the exception of the contracted increases and the additional textbook costs.
“There were no additional programs, and there were no cuts in programs. There were no additional staff, and there are no reductions in staff,” he said. “This is a carry-on, if you will, of what we have now.”
Board President George Scott said 91 percent of the budget is allocated to instruction, with the rest spent on non-instructional services and to pay on bond issues. He said in the 11 years he has served on the board, he has heard time and again from legislators who campaign that public education funding will be a top priority.
“As soon as the election is over, you never hear from the politicians again. It’s been the same thing for 11 years, ” he said. “But the people of this district are going to pay for it because the state won’t.”
Director Robert Evick said that when he first took office, the state was funding as much as 53 percent of the district’s total budget, and the 2002-2003 tentative plan calls for the state to fund just 43.54 percent. He said the state also has left districts in limbo, as they await the final state budget before directors will know exactly how much the state will contribute for education in the upcoming academic year.
“How can we expect a school district to adopt a budget when the state is lagging behind?” he asked.
Stout said the board did consider making cuts to the budget, as had been done in the past, but opted to keep the status quo.
“The consensus was there had been a lot of cutting and a lot of belt-tightening over the last four years, and the board wanted to maintain programs as they were and to purchase the new textbooks,” he said. “We want to see the state come through with a substantial amount (in the new budget) because there is a big difference between local and state revenue.”
If the final budget is approved without any substantial state increases, the tax rate will rise to 88 mills. The millage rate went up 9.5 mills to 81 mills last school year, which Stout said was the first increase in the district in five years.
In the 20022003 budget, Stout said, one mill would generate about $108,500 in revenue. He stressed that any amount over and above the 1-percent increase proposed by the governor would offset the amount of the tax increase.
Scott said the proposed increase, which amounts to $60,000 for Central Greene, is the equivalent of the salary of one teacher at the 16th step in the salary scale.
“That’s all they’ve given us,” he said. “We’ve done everything we can do, but I don’t know if anything will work.”
According to the spending plan, the district’s top anticipated revenues and expenditures are $15,137,210 for personnel; $1,938,500 for student transportation; $1,389,500 for debt service/budgetary reserve; $671,500 for tuition to other schools (for students in group homes, Intermediate Unit 1 or the Greene County Vocational-Technical School); and $660,035 for professional/technical/education services.
The board voted Thursday to move its committee meeting to June 18 at 6:30 p.m. and the regular meeting to adopt the final 2002-2003 budget to Wednesday, June 26, at 6 p.m. in the district administration building.