Board Changes Time, Venue for Budget Hearing

The has changed the time and place for its public hearing and adoption of its 2011-2012 budget.

The hearing will be held at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, June 8 at the Dorothy D. Call Administrative Center at 3000 Donallen Drive.

Board member Ralph Douglass told his colleagues Wednesday that the meeting might not be able to be held at the Valley Elementary School as planned because it could not be broadcast from there on local TV, as are all of the board's meetings. The hearing had been set for 7:30 p.m. at Valley.

The board held a question-and-answer session Wednesday night on the $118.3 proposed final budget which would raise taxes an average $43. But only a few people were in attendance and no questions were asked.

Douglass pointed out that in the past the board might see 200 residents at such a meeting. Fellow board member Harry Kramer attributed the change to the fact that the public is “worn out by the negative news that has happened to every school district.”

Colleague Chester Marshall took that a step further.

“I think the public is aware of the dire straits of surrounding districts and the strength of this district,” he said.

During the board's regular meeting, before the budget session, resident Stephen Pawlowski, a former educator, urged the board too look closer at the budget and reduce or eliminate the tax hike. Douglass pointed out that the district had earlier projected an average increase of more than $120 and got it down to $43.

“We haven't ignored the concerns of taxpayers,” he said. “We'd like it to be zero. We'd like to give money back. But that's not the case.”

District business manager Jack Myers added that the district had to deal with about $3.3 million less in state aid.

Myers has previously said the district is facing a $6.7 million increase in expenditures, largely out of its control, along with a $4.5 million reduction in revenues. The higher expenditures include $1.6 million for the Public School Employees Retirement System.

In total, the proposed budget reflects revenues of $115.7 million, with the difference between expenses and revenues addressed by a draw down of $2.6 million from the district's fund balance. Myers has said the fund balance now stands at $5.8 million.

The budget would increase the school tax rate by 1.4 percent or 1.95 mills to 141.4 mills. That translates to a $42.96 increase in the tax bill of a homeowner assessed at the township median of $22,000.

The $118.3 million total is about $4 million more than the current budget. Nonetheless, Myers said Wednesday that the administration had cut $3.1 million in expenditures from this year's budget in formulating the new spending plan.