UDSD Passes Final Budget with 4.32 Percent Tax Increase, Teachers Union Gives Back $370,000

It took several months of discussion, maneuvering, watching and waiting, but the Upper Dublin School Board has passed the final budget for the 2011-12 school year. And the final bill sent to the residents of Upper Dublin? A 4.32 percent tax increase.

The name of the game at Wednesday night's public meeting was once again compromise, as the nine members of the school board first discussed, and then voted, back and forth over higher and lower tax options.

When the board last voted on a preliminary budget during their May meeting, members split between 3.83, 4.82, and 5.85 percent increases. However, they compromised at 4.82 percent, approved by a 6-3 vote with members Art Levinowitz, David Robinson and Bert Saddler voting no.

Then at a meeting just last week, it appeared that favor had shifted toward lowering the increase to the 3.83 number, something board president Michael Paston echoed after last night's final vote.

"I actually expected our compromise to be 3.83 coming in," said Paston. "But it wasn't, it was the 4.32, so maybe in a way, everybody kind of wins something here."

Paston also stated that he believed the tax increase to be low, considering the district's debt obligation from the construction of the new high school. 

"Unfortunately, we have that 2.4 percent [debt] piece, and there's nothing we can do about it, so on top of that we're at about 1.9 [percent increase]," Paston said.

The voting began at the 4.82 percent figure, where supporters Margie Barrett and Joseph Chmielewski were voted down by the seven other members. The board then tried the other end of the spectrum at 3.33 percent, but supporters Vanessa Good, Art Levinowitz and Bert Saddler were overruled by six nays.

Finance chair Levinowitz then began increasing incrementally, until the 4.32 percent figure was approved with a 7-2 vote. Barrett, Chmielewski, Deborah Mendelson, Michael Resnick, David Robinson, Paston and Saddler voted yes, while Good and Levinowitz voted against.

The competing philosophies among the board members were whether it was more important to keep money in the district's "rainy day" fund, or to give taxpayers the biggest possible break. At the end of the 2011 budget, the district has $4,619,481 in its budgetary reserve, or surplus cash the district has accumulated over the years. However, that money will now be used to balance the 2011-12 budget, when expenditures outgrow revenues.

At the lowest possible increase of 3.33 percent, the district would have been left with only several thousand dollars at the end of the 2012 budget. However, at 4.32, the district will have $241,714 in its ending fund balance, a number that decreased from $544,769 with the previously proposed 4.82 percent figure.

The final numbers for the 2011-12 budget are now $77,896,865 in revenue and $82,274,632 in expenditures.

The $241,714 ending fund balance represents a bleak number for the district, which has not ended with a balance below $4,000,000 since 2007. However, board members were optimistic that money would come from additional sources.

A big piece of the puzzle came from the Upper Dublin Education Association (UDEA), the district's teachers union, in the form of a $369,873 giveback. UDEA President Doug Sample formally announced the giveback, which represented a $1,000 contribution from each member's 2011-12 salary.

"[On Tuesday], the UDEA voted to approve a one-time, mandatory 1,000 dollar giveback from all teachers to the Upper Dublin School District, for the 2011-12 school year, along with no furloughs or demotions for two years," said Sample. "This was not a voluntary, charitable contribution; rather, it was achieved through the collective-bargaining process."

School board members applauded the UDEA's decision, and stated that the teachers had no requirement to take action until the end of their contracts in 2013.

The $369,873 combines with a number of other employee contributions. The district's administrative staff each gave back $1,000, to total $34,000; the support staff each gave back $250, to total $46,000; superintendent Michael Pladus agreed to a one-year salary freeze of $6,359; and changes in medical benefit coverage for administrative and support staff added $60,000.

In total, the contributions resulted in $516,232 less expenditures for the district.

School board members had other reasons to be optimistic. Several noted that the ending fund balance is rarely as low as it is budgeted.

“In the past, the fund balance has always gone up. Three million, 4 million—even this year, the fund balance has gone up because the administration has done an incredible job cutting costs throughout the year,” Levinowitz said during last month's meeting.

Finally, the district could receive some of the money back that has been cut from the state budget. An amendment to Governor Corbett's budget proposal passed the house in early June, and as it currently reads, would restore $821,522 to the school district, according to business administrator Brenda Jones Bray. However, that legislation could likely be altered as it moves through the state government.