Thursday, March 28, 2024

Bellefonte Area School District approves tax hike

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BELLEFONTE — Property owners in the Bellefonte Area School District will see a slight rise in their tax bill after the school board approved the 2022-23 budget on June 14.

The tax millage rate will increase by 2 percent to 51.4603 mills, up from the 50.4518 mills it was at last school year.

The budget was presented to the board by district Director of Fiscal Affairs Ken Bean. He said total revenues for the school year sit at $54,520,000. Add that with a fund balance usage amount of $2,770,000 for total funds amount of $57,290,000.

While there is a slight tax increase for the district, Bean said it falls $585,000 below the adjusted index, which is 4.3%. He said the district millage increase over the past 10 years has consistently been below the adjusted index.

The board unanimously approved the budget, but Bean said, “If anything extra comes in for us, we can do a budget amendment. If it is done quick enough, before the end of June, before our next meeting, I can re-do the budget and you can re-approve it, which we have done in the past.”

The budget includes a $448,589 increase in PSERS costs, for a total of $7,641,042, for the employee retirement.

“We have no control over that. That is just the district’s portion. That is not the employees’ portion that is withheld from their pay checks,” said Bean.

Other items in the budget include charter school tuition ($3.5 million), future capital projects ($500,000) and CPI tuition ($2,170,000).

The local earned income tax revenue is $6.45 million, and the state subsidy remains “level funded,” according to Bean. The district also will be making $3,840,272 in debt payments during the school year.

Next year, substitute teacher costs will also be brought back in house, said Bean. Previously the district utilized temp agency Kelly Services for substitute teachers.

A new $125,000 fund is being set aside for current building repairs.

“That is different than the half a million for our capital projects; this is for our current buildings, for any large repairs that come up. We are trying to get this balance started so in the future we don’t have to have tax hikes or cut back on something else that we need or would like to have,” said Bean.

The athletic budget is set at $990,000 with a general fund transfer increase to $885,000 — up just $10,000. This is with the addition of middle school volleyball as an official sport.

“I am very pleased with that,” said Bean. “I want to thank all the coaches and Deb Moore, the athletic director, for maintaining those numbers.”

Bean also addressed the food service fund, which he called “the big unknown” because of the pandemic. Lunches were free for all students over the past two years because of a federal COVID relief program.

That program is no longer in place, so ticket prices in the cafeteria will be set at the 2019 level.

The total food service budget is set at $1,660,000, with $200,000 coming from the general transfer fund.

“Hopefully we will be in the cafeteria all year long and we can get back to some normal situations,” said Bean. “We will have to see how that translates into our numbers, both our revenue and our expenditures.”

He added, the district has had difficulty in maintaining adequate staffing levels in the food service department.

Bean said the committed fund balance stands at $3,475,662 as of July 2022. The biggest chunk ($2,850,662) is committed to future capital projects, which includes the upcoming elementary school project. The district also has $200,000 committed to variable interest rates, $300,000 to curriculum and instruction and $125,000 to the previously mentioned current building repairs fund.