Connellsville district facing $4.5 million budget deficit
CONNELLSVILLE — A draft of the 2012-2013 budget for Connellsville Area School District shows a projected $4.5 million deficit.
District business manager Eugene Cunningham presented the school board this week with preliminary figures consisting of $63,606,918 in revenue and $68,152,663 in expenses.
The budget was impacted the most this year by a 43 percent increase in retirement contributions that is shared by the district and state, Cunningham said.
Additionally, expenses of $780,264 are budgeted for teacher salaries and $1.2 million in benefits.
Salaries were estimated based on all staff returning to their current positions.
Cunningham said the district has 27 teachers that will retire at the end of this school year, with salaries of roughly $73,000 each before benefits.
Millage in the district is currently at 12.60 mills, with 1 mill generating about $990,000 for the district.
Cunningham said with the average property in the district assessed at $55,000, the average taxpayer pays just less than $700 in school taxes.
The working draft budget includes the 2.5 percent real estate tax increase allowable under the Taxpayer Relief Act, commonly known as Act 1.
Cunningham reported the maximum the district could raise taxes would be 12.915 mills, which would bring an additional $320,100 in revenue.
Cunningham further noted the board has not increased taxes since 2004 and has yet to take advantage of using the allowable Act 1 index.
Cunningham added many of the budget figures would change over the next several months as new information comes out of Harrisburg.
“All budget estimates are conservative,” said Cunningham. “Revenues are budgeted low and appropriations are budgeted high.”
Cunningham pointed out the district lost more than $5.4 million after the state cut or reduced several programs that included $3.5 million in basic education subsidy, $265,000 in charter school reimbursement, $426,400 in the education assistance program and $1,249,300 in Accountability Block Grant money.
The district has a $7.7 million fund balance for next year that would dwindle to $3.2 million to balance the budget without further cuts.
“We just can’t continue to take over $4 million out of the fund balance,” said Director Francis Mongell.
The state requires the board to adopt a spending plan by June 30.
Meanwhile, Cunningham said the working draft budget would appear on the agenda of the regular board meeting on May 9.