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JERSEY SHORE -- With expenditures just shy of $47.8 million and revenues about $46.8 million, the Jersey Shore Area School District is looking at a budget deficit of $982,965, according to Ben Enders, district business manager.
That number is leaving school board members questioning where that money will come from in order to submit a balanced budget to the state.
Enders presented the details of the 2024-25 budget at this week's board meeting.
Earlier this month, Enders had said no tax increase was expected, which usually means any deficit would be alleviated with the district's unassigned fund balance.
Figures released by Enders at the current meeting stated that the fund balance stands at $7 million, but that is not solely the unassigned amount. That figure is a combination of the unassigned fund balance, the fund balance committed for PSERS (the state's Public School Employees' Retirement System), and health insurance reserves. At the beginning of the year, the unassigned fund balance was $4.4 million.
"Utilizing that fund balance to pay for the just-shy-of $1 million deficit, our fund balance at 6-30-25 would be $3,441,600," Enders said.
Commenting on that fact, Enders said, "The good news for you, board, is that as a percentage of budgeted expenditures -- and that's one of the major things that our auditors look at -- we have 7.21% of our fund balance as a percent of our budgeted expenditures.
"One of the things PDE (Pennsylvania Department of Education) recommends is 8%, so you're just below that right now. If you look at the total unassigned and the commitments we will be at 14.81%...the auditors would find that to be a healthy fund balance," he said.
Some budget details presented by Enders included the following increases in salaries -- teacher, 3.75%; administrators just over 3%; maintenance custodians, 3.32%; and secretaries about 3.46%.
Salaries and benefits account for 70% of the budget, Enders said.
Board members offered various ideas of how the budget could be trimmed in order that the deficit would be decreased, such as cutting the i-Ready program, a comprehensive mathematics curriculum for Grades K-8, which cost $80,000 for technology; putting off the purchase of a van; and not purchasing a sound system for the auditorium.
"It might be a good idea to come back the next time, look over the budget and maybe come back with some ideas," said board member Harry Brungard.
Enders said, at the next meeting of the board, he will present scenarios of what happens if taxes are increased by various percentages of the index and also what rebalancing and no increase would look like.
The next meeting will be at 7 p.m. May 13 at the District Administration Building, 175 A&P Drive.