School Board Passes Proposed Prelim

The Abington School Board approved the district’s 2012-2013 proposed preliminary budget last night. If it sounds like the process got started early, it did. Last year, the school board approved the proposed prelim in late January. However, in accordance with the Pennsylvania Tax Payer Relief Act of 2006, more commonly known as Act 1, each school district is required to hold four budget presentations, according to Abington Superintendent Amy Sichel.

The 2012-13 proposed preliminary budget is up 5.13 percent over the 2011-12 budget and stands at $134.2 million.

Abington School District business administrator Chris Lionetti presented a budget that assumed a 1.7 percent increase in real estate taxes — a figure handed down by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The increase would bump the millage rate from 27.80 mills to 28.27 mills.

Should the budget pass as-is, a resident with a home assessed at $141,130 (the average assessment of a house in the school district) would see an increase of about $67, bringing his or her annual cost up to $3,990.

The proposed preliminary budget also assumes the use of $9.4 million in fund balance, bringing the fund balance down to $26.7 million.

School Board member Barry Stupine said the district’s fund balance is healthy because the board anticipated an increase in payments to the Public School Employees' Retirement System or (PSERS).

“Mandated benefits,” which includes PSERS payments, was the biggest item to increase in the proposed preliminary budget — the item went up by $3.2 million to $16.6 million, a 24 percent increase.

According to the proposed preliminary budget, salaries will increase by a modest 3 percent to $75.6 million; and negotiated benefits will increase by 7.7 percent to $13.3 million. The non-salary/non-benefit category will increase by less than 0.50 percent, bringing it to $28.7 million.  

Sichel and School Board President Raymond McGarry said the proposed preliminary budget is full of “assumptions,” adding that the school board does not yet have figures relating to federal funds or state funds.  

“These are the best guesstimates at this time,” Sichel said.

Despite the assumption of a 1.7 percent tax increase, McGarry said, “I’d like to see a zero percent tax increase this year.”

Last year’s proposed preliminary budget assumed a 1.4 percent tax increase, but the millage rate remained static following the approval of the final budget.