Relink to Budget Article

Thanks to the sharp eyed emailers who noted that the couriertimesnow.com website and phillyburbs.com websites have different content. Phillyburbs has more content.

I'm still disappointed in the article. It mentions nothing about defeasement being the lion's share of the savings, and the vote was not 5-2. It was 5-3.

Let's give credit where credit is due. Voting YES to provide an inadequately funded special education, charter school, and alternative education budget were: President William Hellmann, Vice President Al Radosti, Secretary Marlys Mihok, Treasurer Brenda Worob, and newcomer Jack Buckman. Voting NO were: Joe Kemp, Robin Reithmeyer, and William Farrell. Former Treasurer Gloria Heater was absent.

Budget includes $321 tax decrease

By MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times

MORRISVILLE -- Residents in Morrisville can expect to pay $321 less in taxes next year.

Taxes will lessen to $3,371 for a homeowner with the borough's average assessed property of $18,000.

Those eligible for the homestead/farmstead exclusion will see a further decline of $218. The exclusion is property tax relief from state slot machine revenue.

It's a relief to many residents, but falling taxes come with consequences.

A pared-down budget that is a result of this tax reduction could be a drain on programs and services for approximately 1,000 Morrisville students.

The board voted 5-2 late Wednesday evening on a $19.88 million budget for next school year. To lower taxes, expenditures are down by about 3 percent from this year.

The approved budget is far short of what is necessary to fully provide for upcoming special education, charter school and alternative school costs required by the state, according to the district.

“This option is a big no-no,” as far as district auditors and the state Department of Education are concerned, said Reba Dunford, the district's business administrator.

An estimated $2.2 million will be needed just for special education for about 250 students, 11 more than this year's average. This year, special education expenses were about $1.9 million, according to Kimberly Myers, Morrisville's supervisor of pupil personnel services.

The district also had to account for teacher contracts, which account for $10 million of the budget. The average teacher salary in Morrisville is about $70,000 a year, and the district employs 71 teachers and seven professional support staff members.

Rising fuel prices pushed the final budget skyward by another $22,400.

For the past few months board members have been arguing with the administration about how to crop those expenses, which keep rising.

State law says they are uncontrollable costs that have to be paid.

Last month, board members, including President William Hellmann, requested that Dunford reduce the projected necessary increases in special education and charter and alternative schools.

Hellmann, who was voted into office on the promise of tightening belts and lowering taxes, has repeatedly said that the school district spends too much.

“It's too much. It's a problem,” Hellmann said several times at Wednesday night's meeting.

He hasn't yet explained how to cover those costs but has said he doesn't trust the administration's cost estimates. Hellmann thinks certain expenditures have been padded so there is more money in the budget, making it a kind of wish list.

Yonson has expressed frustration with this view on several occasions and stressed that the administration has specified only a “bare-bones budget.”

Several residents requested the board vote for a budget that would safeguard as much of the uncontrollable costs as possible.

To achieve some kind of compromise between board members and the administration's recommendations, Dunford presented four different budget options before the vote.

Each retained the same tax decrease and a millage decrease of 17.8 mills, yielding a total millage of 187.3.

The differences among the budget possibilities involved funding partial increases in charter and alternative schools and special education services.

The highest expenditure option was around $20.1 million because it included taking about $182,000 from savings for those schools and services. That is still far less than what Elizabeth Yonson, the district's superintendent, has said is necessary to fully provide for students who need those services next year.

The board voted for the lowest expenditure option, which leaves out much of the required increase.

Now the district will have to pull the money from other areas and look for ways to reduce costs without cutting state-mandated services, warned Yonson. What those areas may be are still up in the air.

The budget options Dunford presented utilized varying amounts of the fund balance, the district's savings account.

Yonson said the district would somehow pay for all mandated services, no matter what.

Manasee Wagh can be reached at 215-949-4206 or mwagh@phillyBurbs.com.
June 27, 2008 6:11 AM