Brownsville school board rejects preliminary budget
BROWNSVILLE — The Brownsville Area School Board on Thursday voted down a proposed preliminary budget that included a small real estate tax increase.
Board members voted 7-1 against the proposed budget that would have raised the millage for district residents living in Fayette County to 16.72 mills, a .15-mill increase, and for Washington County residents to 100.9 mills, a .88-mill increase.
The budget would have used a $2 million fund balance to balance the $25.04 million in revenue with the $27.29 million in expenditures.
Board member Richard Gates told the rest of the board that he planned to vote against the spending plan.
He said he didn’t know what the budget contained because no budget meetings were held.
“I don’t know what’s in it,” Gates said.
The finance committee is meeting on May 28, said board member Jeffery Bayne, who chairs the committee.
Gates also said he he did not want to use the fund balance to balance the budget.
“I don’t want to use all $2 million. I don’t want to use all of it. Some of it I can understand,” he said.
Board member Ronald Dellarose cast the lone vote in favor of the budget and board member Andy Dorsey was absent.
The district is required by law to adopt a budget by June 30 unless a state budget isn’t passed until after June 15, said Mike Gigliotti, business manager. A delay in adopting a state budget would give school districts additional time to adopt their budgets, he said. After the board meeting, Board President R.W. Brashear said he vowed not to raise taxes because of the $14.5 million elementary school complex construction project and he remains opposed to even a small tax increase. The district’s $16 million financing plan is supposed to cover the entire cost of the project, he said. He said the board hasn’t decided whether to order a shingle roof or a more expensive metal roof, which would raise the project cost.
A small amount of pyrite found underground where one corner of the building will be located must be removed and that might add to the cost also, Brashear said.
Groundbreaking is set for October, he said.
In other business, the board:
n Accepted the retirements of fifth-grade teacher Olivia Frazier and fourth grade teacher Diane M. Sheridan.
n Agreed to expand the welding program at the Fayette County Career and Technical Institute at an estimated cost of $18,450.