From the BCCT.
District faces estimated $7M shortfall in 2009-10
The school board can only raise taxes a certain amount to cover the shortfall, and it’s not enough to cover all the projected expenses.
By JOAN HELLYER
The Bensalem School District could face an estimated $7 million revenue shortfall in the coming school year, according to 2009-10 projections reviewed by the school board Wednesday night.
Preliminary projections suggest expenses will increase from about $109 million in the current school year to just over $114 million in 2009-10, said Jack Myers, the district’s director of business administration.
However, district officials anticipate revenues will be less than $107 million in the coming school year.
The board can raise taxes 4.1 percent over the current tax rate, or 5.33 mills, without asking for voter approval, according to an index determined by the state, said Jack Myers, the district’s director of business administration.
If taxes increase by that amount, the owner of the district’s average assessed property of $22,000 would pay just over $2,977 in taxes in 2009-10.
The additional taxes would bring in about $3 million in extra revenue, Myers said.
The rest of the shortfall could be covered with money from the district’s savings account, known as the fund balance. It’s expected to total about $11.3 million in the upcoming academic year, he said.
Myers did not say how much from the fund should be used to help cover the shortfall.
But he cautioned board members that if they used too much of the savings in the next two years, there would be nothing left to help cover any revenue shortfall in 2011-12.
As required by Act 1, the state’s property tax relief law, the board has to decide if it wants to raise the tax rate above its index to help cover expenses. The only way it can do that is to get voter approval in the May primary.
The board will have another budget work session Jan. 14 to decide how it plans to cover all the expenses in the projected 2009-10 budget.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
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1 comment:
Isn't it about time for the board to pass the hand-tying resolution not to raise taxes more than 4.1% for the 2009-10 budget?
You know, the one where Marlys Mihok was caught in a lie or lies about the board not being informed of the deadline. Wasn't the deadline Jan. 3 last year?
Hellmann said last night we're in a financial crisis, and that he's disappointed that things still aren't under control, even after chucking back almost all that heavy never-to-be-built new school debt.
Doesn't tying the hands up front demonstrate the kind of wreckless fiscal discipline we all crave?
Do I smell a Special Meeting, or is that brimstone?
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