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JERSEY SHORE -- Property owners in the Jersey Shores Area School District will see their taxes either increase by a small amount or good down for an even smaller amount following approval by the school board of the 2023-24 district budget this week.
All Lycoming County real estate situated in Jersey Shore and Salladasburg boroughs and Anthony, Bastress, Brown, Cummings, Limestone, McHenry, Mifflin, Nippenose, Piatt, Porter and Watson townships will have a tax rate of 18.38 mills, which is an increase of $.80 per $100,000 of the assessed value. This means that they will pay $1.83 per $100 of their property's assessed value.
The remainder of the district, which lies in Clinton County, including the Borough of Avis, and Crawford and Pine Creek #1 townships will see their rate set at 13.67 mills or $1.36 per $100 of a property's assessed value. This reflects a decrease of a minute amount according to Ben Enders, district business manager.
The vote on passage of the budget was not unanimous with the following board members voting no: Wayne Kinley and Michelle Stemler. Voting "yes" were Michael Allen, Kayla Calhoon, Patrice Doebler, Jessie Edwards, Angela Grant, Nancy Petrosky and Mary Thomas.
On the vote setting the tax rate, Edwards and Calhoun voted "no."
Under personnel, the board approved the following items: the appointment of Autymn Cantrail as volunteer cheer coach; the transfer of Quinn Henry from network-computer technician to network-computer technician specialist; and the appointment of Sarah Luprek as the girls' varsity soccer coach at a stipend of $4,443.
Letters of resignation from the following were accepted by the board: Donald Rhinehart, security officer; Sadiq Burkholder, head baseball coach; Heidi Belle, Middle School assistant cheer coach; Darrin Bischoff, head girls varsity basketball coach; Coral Utter, part-time food service employee; Amber Berrigan, food service substitute; and Brian Witner, food service substitute.
A letter of retirement from Gaye Jarrett, building and grounds secretary for 24 years was also accepted by the board.
Other actions taken by the board include approval of: a bid for a boiler block and burn kit from jfo Energy Solutions and a labor estimate from CCSI, Inc., totaling $19,949; installation of fencing around the pond at the Jersey Shore Elementary School at a cost of $9,140, $5,000 of which to be paid with grant funds; a donation of $15,000 from the Gene Haas Foundation for the district to support scholarships and student competition teams; a donation of books from Craig Allen for the Middle School Library; the retention of McCormick Law Firm as district solicitor for the upcoming school year; the appointment of Nancy Petrosky as board treasurer at an annual salary of $500; and the disposal of high school books.
The board approved purchasing the following insurances for the upcoming fiscal year at the rates listed: district insurance policy package, including general liability, property, automobile, fiber optics, boiler and machinery insurance, $137,163; general law enforcement liability and excess liability, $469; school leaders errors and omissions insurance, $16,161; district excess liability, $8,788; district violent incident insurance, $7,377; privacy and network liability insurance, $17,798; and workmen's compensation insurance policy, $74,848. All were purchased through the R.R. Motter Agency from various insurance companies.
A Homestead/Farmstead resolution was approved by the board. The district has a combined total of 4,594 homestead/farmsteads eligible to participate in the program. This year, $1,444,453 will be available to help in the reduction of real estate taxes for qualifying properties.
The next meeting of the board will be at 7 p.m., June 26 at the district's Administration Building, 175 A&P Drive.