Brownsville board to consider 18-mill tax hike
BROWNSVILLE – The preliminary budget that the Brownsville Area School Board will consider on May 28 could propose an 18-mill hike in real estate taxes for the 2002-03 fiscal year. The tax increase would balance a $583,190 difference between projected revenues and expenditures, provide five mills to fund a high school/middle school renovation project and include three mills to begin paying off the district’s $926,000 deficit.
That was the update on the tentative budget business manager William Boucher gave to the school board at Thursday’s finance committee meeting and planning session.
If the millage for renovation project and deficit reduction were excluded, the district would still need an 11.37-mill increase to balance the operating budget.
Boucher said: “11.3 (mills) is as tight as it gets.”
The current millage is 39.2. One mill generates $51,274 in revenue for the district.
He said his original budget draft contained a $300,000 reserve fund, but a higher than expected increase in employee health insurance premiums consumed $200,000 and reduced the reserve to $100,000.
The budget also contains 6 mills – or $280,000 – to cover anticipated increases in employee salaries. The district is negotiating contract with its teachers’ and service employees’ unions.
The board was considering a $25 million renovation and expansion project for the high school/middle school, but the project has apparently been scaled back.
Boucher recommended 5-mill tax increases in three consecutive years to fund an $18 million project based on a 50 percent reimbursement rate from the state.
Board member Andy Dorsey said before he votes for a tax increase, he wants a guarantee that the budget will be strictly adhered to.
He said residents would be more willing to support higher taxes if they knew their money would help improve the district and would not be spent creating jobs for board members’ friends.
Board member John Evans said the board should have enacted tax increases in previous years.
Superintendent Dr. Gerry Grant said the board considered, but did not pass a smaller tax increase for the current year.
“If we let this (tax increase) go, we’re done,” Evans said.