Central Greene board approves small tax increase
WAYNESBURG – A little good news from the state helped offset just a small amount of the tax increase proposed by the Central Greene School District for next year, though school directors approved a $21.175 million budget Thursday night that still raises taxes by 6.5 mills. And, now that a new spending plan is in place, the board will focus on finding a new superintendent, after Donald Painter announced his retirement as top administrator, effective Sept. 20.
The budget was revised at the last minute after business manager Walter Stout said he received word late Thursday afternoon that the state was planning to increase education funding to school districts by 2 percent from the current academic year. Earlier this year, Gov. Mark Schweiker had proposed only a 1-percent increase from current funding for education subsidy.
While legislators have yet to approve a final 2003 budget, Stout said the 2-percent number seemed firm and proceeded to present the spending plan to the school board. Because the amount of state funding is slightly higher than anticipated, Stout said the amount of the tax hike was lowered slightly because of the small jump in revenue.
“The state subsidy increased $60,000, so the local revenue was reduced by $60,000,” he said.
When directors adopted a tentative budget June 6, a 7-mill increase was proposed, but that rate was subject to change based on the Legislature’s actions. If the state increase remains at 2 percent, the tax rate will jump from 81 mills to 87.5 mills.
While directors approved it by a 7-1 margin, the budget might be reopened after the state has finally agreed upon a spending plan of its own, Stout said. Should the amount of state funding to the district increase any more than 2 percent, the district will be authorized to reopen the budget and use the extra funding to restore programs, send property tax rebates or to reduce debt in the district, he added.
Board President George Scott said the 2002-03 budget looks very similar to the current spending plan, with the only addition a purchase of language arts books that had been removed from last year’s budget. He said neither programs nor staff were cut in arriving at the final budget.
The only director opposing the budget, Joe Ayersman, said after the meeting that the budget was too much like the 2001-02 budget, which raised taxes by 9.5 mills. Ayersman said he was not opposed to implementing the new language arts program, but he felt it should have remained in last year’s plan. He added that the sting of two tax increases in consecutive years is more than taxpayers should have to bear.
“This is too much of a burden on the senior citizens, I feel,” he said. “It’s a shame the state couldn’t come through with more.”
According to the budget, almost 59 percent will be spent on regular, special, vocational and other instruction, with 32.22 percent allocated to support services, 2.22 percent for non-instructional services and 6.56 percent to debt service and budgetary reserve.
Stout said that 1 mill generates about $108,500 in revenue. Director Jane Owen was absent for Thursday’s meeting.
Meanwhile, the board accepted Painter’s letter of retirement with best wishes. He plans to leave the district this fall after 11 years with Central Greene. Painter thanked the board for giving him the opportunity to serve the district and said he looks forward to his retirement.
“As I sit and reflect on the past 11 years, a great deal of pride can be taken over what has happened here,” he said. “I’d like to think that in some small fashion, I may have contributed to that.”
Painter, 56, came to Central Greene after serving as principal at South Fayette Junior/Senior High School in Bridgeville and spent 12 years before that as a teacher and assistant principal at Penn-Trafford High School. He said he plans to do some consulting for the state Department of Education after retirement, to help many districts similar to Central Greene succeed like students there have over the years.
He said his most memorable moment at the district was when the class of 2000 scored the highest of any in the Intermediate Unit 1 on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests and fourth in western Pennsylvania. He said that standout performance validated the focus the district had on student achievement for a number of years and rewarded the district for its efforts.
Scott said that a vote on a new superintendent could come as early as the July meeting, and he intimated that a motion to hire assistant superintendent Dr. Jerome Bartley for the position could be on the agenda. He said the action will be discussed at the board’s committee meeting, scheduled for July 16.
The board voted to move their committee meeting from July 9 to July 16 and the regular meeting from July 16 to July 23, with both meetings to begin at 6:30 p.m.