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Residents of the Loyalsock Township School District could face just under a half mill increase in real estate taxes next year if the tentative budget introduced this week is approved as the final budget by June 30.
Stressing that it was a tentative budget, a starting point, Dan Egly, district business manager, introduced the 2021-22 budget reflecting a .43 mill increase in real estate taxes for residents of the district. The district has not raised taxes for the past two years and has only raised taxes seven times in the last 16 years.
If the millage increase is approved in the final budget, township residents would pay an extra $43 per $100,000 of the assessed value their property.
Budgeted expenditures for the upcoming fiscal year were $25,024,851 which is 3.95 percent over this year.
A major driver of the increase in expenditures is the cost for cyber school enrollments which is approximately $350,000 more than last year. Egly noted that the number of district students enrolled in cyber schools almost doubled during the pandemic.
Breaking down expenditures, salaries and benefits accounts for the greatest expense at $17,765,007 or 70.99 percent of the total amount,
"As we know there's contracts that have driven them," Egly said. "There's little we can do with 71 percent of our budget."
The next largest expense is professional, technical maintenance services which is $3,193,545 or 12.76 percent of the budgeted amount. This includes the special education contract the district has with the BLaST Intermediate unit, which is about $780,000, Egly said.
Other expense items include: debt service, $2,772,050 or 11.08 percent; Supplies, including utilities and fuel, $1,232,424, or 4.92 percent; and other, which refers to such things as fees for subscriptions, memberships, conference reimbursements, $61,825 or .25 percent.
Total budgeted revenues are expected to be $24,674,069 which leaves a deficit of $350,782. The fund balance would be used to offset the deficit. The current unassigned fund balance is $2,481,796.
The majority of the revenue, $15,910,500, or about 65 percent, comes from local tax proceeds, real estate taxes, real estate transfer taxes, interim real estate taxes, the earned income and a business privilege tax. State funding accounts for $7,281,069 or 29.51 percent of the total, while federal funding is just 2.18 percent or $537,500. The budget also shows a one-time allocation of $945,000 in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Response (ESSERS) II funds which comprises 3.83 percent of the total.
Figured into the total revenue is the proposed .43 mill increase in real estate taxes which would yield an additional $300,000. Other increases include an additional $50,000 in earned income taxes and another $50,000 in real estate transfer taxes.
The budget also reflects a decrease in the total revenue from the business privilege tax of about $25,000. Egly said that the pandemic contributed to some stores in the township closing and although new stores are moving in, they have not done so yet.
Another drop in revenue is in interest earned on the district's accounts, due to the drop in the interest rates that could cost the district a loss of $50,000.
Related to personnel items in the budget, Egly said that the district is proposing to transition from contracted positions to in-house personnel in the area of emotional learning support and intervention specialists, which would expand the coverage for students, particularly in the elementary grades.
Also, under personnel, due to the increase of students entering kindergarten in the fall, there will be a need to hire a new elementary teacher. Egly noted that the district currently has 92 students enrolled for kindergarten which is running well ahead the normal total of 70 to 75 students. He said this was expected because many parents chose not to enroll their children last fall due to COVID.
The district is also expected a 56.99 percent increase in costs for summer school due to remediation efforts for students caused the pandemic.
The projected timeline for the 2021-22 budget is for the proposed final budget to be approved at the May 12 board meeting with the final budget adoption expected at the June 16 meeting.