Frazier School Board does not adopt budget
PERRYOPOLIS – Frazier School Board sent its proposed 2013-14 general fund budget back to the drawing board Wednesday.
Directors opposed the $15.3 million budget by 6-1 vote with Deborah Vargo Alekson, Lisa Strickler, Jack Strickler, David Simmons, Tom Shetterly and Vicki Olexa voting against the proposal leaving Ryan Sechrest as the sole vote in favor the measure. Directors Stacey Erdley and John Sterdis were absent from the meeting.
During the work session prior to the regular meeting, Simmons signaled his reluctance to approve the budget proposal that the board was about to consider. He said more time was needed to work things out so that taxes wouldn’t have to be raised that much.
Sunday is the deadline for submitting a budget to the state for approval.
Frazier School District Business Manager Kevin Mildren said though the district will miss Sunday’s deadline, there may still be time to submit the budget if Harrisburg does not pass the state budget Sunday.
The board agreed to meet July 8 to take another crack at approving a budget.
The proposed budget sought to raise property taxes and was about $600,000 more than last year’s budget.
The new budget sought to raise the millage rate about 1.11 mills from 13.33 mills to 14.50 mills to help close a $355,607 gap. Mildren said costs increased while revenue projections remained flat, so cuts and tax increases were needed to balance the budget.
The general fund budget was about $14.7 million for the 2012-13. That budget closed a $250,000 gap and didn’t have to raise property taxes which remained at 13.33 mills.
Mildren said the district faces increased costs associated with the debt service of building its new $20 million school building that will house students from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade.
Mildren said cuts included slight reduction the hours of aides that assist teachers in the classroom. Also, the budget sought reductions in expenses such as software and licensing renewals.
Mildren said no staff positions were cut, and there were no retirements planned. During the 2012-13 school year, the lion’s share of the savings came from staff retirements — a reduction in expenses of about $666,427.
Mildren said the proposed budget came a long way to close a $355,000 gap from the draft budget that directors saw in May.
Alekson laid out her reasons as to why she would vote against the proposal. Alekson said she didn’t like how staff and programs were being cut while taxes increased.
Alekson said she believes higher millage rates may be necessary to preserve educational programming and more. She said she is more concerned about the district’s future because there is a need for a vision academically and financially.
“I believe that we know in the future that our budget expenditures will potentially grow,” she said. “We face a retirement crisis, increases in health insurance, our debt service to our new building project and the potential for more borrowing because of that project. As a board member, in order to be more fiscally responsible, we have to address that impact to the budget little by little each year.”
After the budget proposal was defeated, Mildren said the budget tried to balance rising expenses without raising taxes too much. He said it isn’t likely the state is going to make up any gaps in the budget, so decisions need to be made so as to preserve essential programs and cut excess expenses to accommodate rising costs.
Because the budget was not approved, multiple other related items on the agenda were tabled for further discussion that included tax resolutions and salary adjustments that would be based on employee evaluations. Last year, the board approved a 3 percent salary increase for support staff for the 2012-13 school year based on satisfactory employee evaluations.