Morrisville School District kicked off the budget season with a $323,936 deficit, way below the nearly $1 million deficit it began with the two previous years. The difference is reductions in expenses from the previous two years with little new added on, school director Dan Dingle said Friday. The school district is looking at $18.16 million in expenditures and $17.83 million in revenue for the 2015-16 school year, according to numbers presented to the board last week. There are still a number of areas where the numbers will move up and down and we get answers to questions such as special education, insurance, and some other operational discussions, Dingle said. We have a lot of work ahead of us and I like to go line by line and justify each accounting unit with the team. In the end, we close the gap the best way we can. The board voted last week not to cap a possible tax increase at 2.3 percent either, which is the maximum amount the state has allowed for the district without the district applying for exceptions or putting the issue to a voter referendum. But just because the district applies for exceptions to the state’s Act 1 school spending law doesnt mean it has to raise taxes above the limit, board President Damon Miller said. The $323,936 factors in the 2.3 percent, or 4.321 mills, in real estate taxes, school board director Jon Perry said. The board has until March to apply to the Pennsylvania Department of Education for exceptions to raise school property taxes above the allowable state index. This year, the millage is 187.866, which was a 7.55 mill increase from the 2013-14 school year, totaling about $136 more in school taxes for the owner of a property assessed at the $18,000 borough average, who paid about $3,381 in taxes for this school year. School districts statewide won’t know true budget numbers until the governor releases his education budget early next month. This budget is the first for the district’s new business manager consultant, Michael Braun, who replaced Paul DeAngelo after the board didn’t renew his contract. Braun works for the Intermediate Unit. Gema Maria Duarte: 215-949-4195; email: gduarte@calkins; Twitter: @deadlineduarte buckscountycouriertimes/news/communities/falls/morrisville-schools-keeping-act-i-options-open/article_c6998e12-ff8a-555f-978c-be4ee4d6452b.html
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 03:35:50 +0000
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