Brownsville board eyes 18-mill tax hike
BROWNSVILLE – The Brownsville Area School Board unanimously approved an $18.4 million preliminary budget that includes an 18-mill hike in real estate taxes to balance revenues and expenditures, begin paying down a $926,000 deficit and provide debt-service payments for a future building project. The board also revived a project aimed at renovating and expanding the high school/middle school by hiring a construction-management firm, an investment firm and an architectural firm.
The project appeared stalled after the board terminated its contract with architects N. John Cunzolo and Associates of Pittsburgh in April after it prepared a feasibility study for a $25 million project.
In a move that surprised and outraged some of his fellow board members Tuesday, director Andy Dorsey motioned to hire Uniontown-based architects Michael S. Molnar Associates.
“I can’t believe the underhandedness,” director Rocky Brashear said. “This is a disgrace. I would rather hire the Three Stooges.”
“Mr. Andy Dorsey, you’re a disgrace,” director Roseanne Markovich said. She called the move a “travesty.”
After the board hired Cunzolo in October, 2001, Dorsey presented the board with court records from the Allegheny County that showed the firm had been sued by the Elizabeth-Forward, Moon Area and Quaker Valley school districts.
Brashear said he could find “twice the dirt on Molnar.” Brashear and director Francine Pavone said they would look into Molnar’s history.
After the meeting, Dorsey said he would vote to fire Molnar if other board members find just cause.
His motion made the hiring subject to the board’s approval of a contract, which has yet to be negotiated, with the firm.
Before the board voted to hire Cunzolo last year, Brashear said Molnar called him at home when he learned that he did not have the needed support of five board members.
Molnar could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The motion to hire the firm passed on a 5-4 vote with board members Ellen Rohrer, Brashear, Pavone and Markovich dissenting. Directors Stella Broadwater, John C. Evans, Melvin Sally, Dorsey and board president Jim Brown voted to hire the firm.
A motion to table the vote was rejected in a reversed 5-4 vote.
Brown said a major project would come sometime “down the road,” but the district needs portable classrooms for the 2002-03 school year to alleviate overcrowding that exists at the school now.
Overcrowding has been an issue since the board voted to close Redstone Middle School and Colonial and Hiller elementary schools in a series of cost-cutting moves enacted at the start of the current school year.
The displaced elementary students were sent to the district’s three other elementary schools, while the middle school students were transferred to the high school.
Other cost-cutting measures included the layoff of nine teachers and 16 non-professional employees, and a salary freeze. Several aides and custodians have since been recalled.
Those cost-reducing moves were recommended by a Department of Education official, who warned the board that the district was at risk of being declared financially distressed if it did not drastically reduce expenses.
The same department officials attended a committee meeting prior to Tuesday’s business meeting. He told the board that if the district would be declared distressed, the first move he would recommend would be to furlough 70 more teachers to reduce the student-to-teacher ratio to 26-to-1.
The construction management firm hired Tuesday was Maccabee Industrial Inc. of Belle Vernon and RRZ Public Markets Inc. of Cranberry Township was hired as the district’s financial advisers for the future project.
Five mills of the proposed 18-mill tax increase would generate $250,000 in revenue for the district to use for the project’s debt service, business manager William Boucher said.
Three mills would generate $150,000 in revenue and go into a budget reserve dedicated to paying off the $926,000 budget deficit.
The remaining 10 mills would balance a $583,190 difference between expenditures and revenues in the general fund.
The school district’s current tax rate is 39.2 mills.
The board will consider final adoption of the budget on June 27.
Positive financial news came when the board agreed to lease Colonial Elementary School to Intermediate Unit 1.
Superintendent Dr. Gerry Grant declined to disclose financial terms of the agreement because the IU1 board has not yet voted on the contract.
She did say that the Pennsylvania School Code prohibits intermediate units from buying classroom space. The IU1 has agreed to pay the negotiated sale price in installments spread over three years and pay all other costs like insurance, utilities and maintenance while it works with the legislature to change that part of the code, Grant said.
In a related move, the board voted to relocate the administration office from Colonial to Hiller Elementary School.
In other business, the board:
– Assigned Connie Horka as Cox-Donahey Elementary School for the next school year at a salary of $63,257 and accepted her resignation as federal programs coordinator and reading supervisor effective June 30.
– Hired retired special education director John R. Joseph as a consultant for federal programs and general administration for up to 95 days for $45,000 with no benefits. Two-thirds of his salary will come from federal funds and the remaining third from the general fund.
– Acknowledged the tenure of teacher Carol Wilson.
– Purchased 120 band uniforms for $26,210 from Demolin Brothers Co.
– Hired Scott Roebuck as athletic director and faculty manager at a salary of $6,600.
– Approved a request from West Brownsville Borough Council to remove five dilapidated home from the tax rolls so they can be demolished.
– Accepted the resignation of long-time board clerk Edith Fudala and hired Joyce Mayers as the clerk for $50 per board meeting.
– Accepted the retirement of maintenance worker Edward Fudala effective Aug. 2.
– Accepted the resignation of long-time teacher’s aide Frances Leon, effective June 8.