North Hills School District Taxes Likely To Rise

ROSS TOWNSHIP, PA - Property taxes are likely to rise in the North Hills School District, as school directors plan to adopt a 2017-18 budget next month containing a 0.20 mill increase to 18 mills.

What does that mean to the average taxpayer? If the budget is approved as planned at the school board’s June 8 meeting, property tax bills on a median home in the district - valued at $135,700 -- will rise $2.26 a month or $27.14 annually.

That’s not a huge hike in a district that currently has the sixth-lowest millage rate among Allegheny County’s 41 suburban school districts, and the lowest millage rate among the nine northern area school districts.

“We continue to work diligently to manage our annual operating expenses and responsibly plan for the future in order to minimize the impact on our local taxpayers,” said David Hall, the district’s director of finance and operations.

The tax hike will allow the district to add four new employees: an elementary music position, an elementary physical education position, an elementary special education position in the area of autistic support and a district-wide school nurse position.District officials say those positions are needed because enrollment has risen in the district.

The budget also includes:

• $216,192 for a new curriculum materials in accordance with the North Hills curriculum adoption cycle. Updated curriculum materials will be used in elementary science, secondary English and secondary business, computers and information technology courses. This adoption cycle also include course materials for the new biomedical science course at the high school.

• $198,000 for elementary teacher desktop computers in all elementary classrooms.

• $115,00 to add Wi-Fi access points and upgrade the Wi-Fi infrastructure in all elementary buildings due to increased connectivity needs.

• $89,576 for 12 laptop carts with 336 laptop computers across all the elementary buildings and $4,250 for iPad charging cabinets for third-grade classrooms.

If you’re interested in delving into the details of the spending plan, it’s available online until the budget is formally approved.

Photo by Martha Soukup via Creative Commons.