Towanda School Board Looking at Possible 1.52-Mil Property Tax Increase & Program Cuts
April 20, 2010
TOWANDA – Faced with a $519,093 shortfall in its proposed budget for the 2010-11 school year, the Towanda School District may have to cut back on some of the programs it offers for students.
The Towanda Area School Board on Monday directed the school district’s administration to erase some of the shortfall by coming up with a minimum of $200,000 in budget cuts.
The administration is to come up with a "menu" of options for achieving at least $200,000 in budget cuts, school board President Peggi Munkittrick said.
However, Towanda School District Business Manager Doreen Secor told the school board that the only way she could come up with $200,000 in budget cuts would be to cut programs offered by the school district.
"I’m looking for some ways to cut the budget," school board Vice-President Pete Alesky said at Monday’s meeting. "Every year we have another tax increase."
School board member Keith Lamphere suggested looking at art or band as places to make cuts. When Lamphere suggested looking at cutting teaching positions, Secor said the school district cannot cut teaching positions directly, but would have to cut programs.
In addition to cutting the proposed budget, the school board is also looking at a tax increase to help eliminate the shortfall in the budget, which must be balanced before it can be passed in June.
Earlier this year, the school board had passed a resolution that limits any increase in the Towanda School District’s property tax and occupation tax for the coming year to no more than the index set by the state for school district.
Due to the passage of the resolution, the maximum increase in the school property tax that could occur this year is 1.52 mils, which would bring in an additional $290,897 in revenue to the school district for the 2010-11 school year, Secor said.
Due to the passage of the resolution, the total amount of additional revenue the school district could raise from property and occupation taxes for the 2010-11 school year is $340,466, she said.
Secor also suggeste d a third option for helping to eliminate the shortfall: cutting back on the $341,808 that the district was planning to set aside this year to help fund the sharp increase in the contributions it will have to make into its employees’ retirement fund in the next few years.
Munkittrick told the administration that if it could come up with the cuts totaling at least $200,000, the school board would do the "heavy lifting" of bridging the rest of the $519,093 shortfall through either a tax increase, a reduction in the amount of money set aside for the retirement fund, or tapping into the school district’s fund balance.
However, she acknowledged that the sentiment of the school board was to not cut back on funds set aside for the retirement fund, and to not use the fund balance to erase the shortfall.
Secor said that if the property tax were raised 1.52 mils, the owner of a house assessed at $40,000 would pay an additional $60.83 annually in property taxes. In Bradford County, homes are assessed at half their market value.
The school board plans to meet again at 5:30 p.m. on May 10 in the conference room of the Towanda Area Elementary School to resume its deliberations on the budget.
The school board is planning to pass a proposed final budget at the May 10 meeting, and then pass a final budget at its first meeting in June