Divided district still eying tax-increasing budget

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June 23, 2010

By Keith Gushard Meadville Tribune The Meadville Tribune Wed Jun 23, 2010, 07:00 AM EDT

VERNON TOWNSHIP — VERNON TOWNSHIP — Property owners in the Crawford Central School District are still looking at a 3.9 percent increase in real estate taxes — a slight improvement over preliminary budgets crafted in the past few weeks — if the school board gives final approval to the district’s 2010-11 “preliminary budget” when it meets Monday night.

The proposed $53.6 million budget, if approved, will raise property taxes by 1.84 mills from 46.78 to 48.62 mills. It means the property taxes on a home with an assessed value of $37,500 would rise $69 a year from $1,754.25 to $1,823.25.

At a work session Tuesday night, school board members were divided 4-4 in their support of the latest version. Board member David Miller was absent from the work session and is out of the country. He is expected to vote via telephone at Monday’s board meeting.

The proposed millage rate is down slightly from the 1.91-mill increase given preliminary approval by the board at its May 24 meeting.

Guy O’Neil, the district’s business manager, said the millage rate was able to be lowered because of a slight improvement in the economy. Realty transfer tax and earned income taxes both are running slightly higher, O’Neil said. Also, the district is expected to receive a $140,000 reimbursement from the Northwest Tri-County Intermediate Unit, he said.

Board members Jan VanTuil, Frank Schreck, Kevin Maziarz and Mitch Roe said they couldn’t support final passage of the budget when its acted upon on Monday, while board members Richard Curry, Carol Jones, Asuman Baskan and Jeff Deardorff said they could support it.

VanTuil said the budget does nothing to cut overhead in the long run. She said she can’t see how the district can continue to support multiple schools when faced with declining enrollment.

Maziarz, too, said he couldn’t support the budget with a tax increase while enrollment is declining.

He pointed out the district had 5,000 students 10 years ago, but was down to 4,000 now. He also didn’t agree with having to pay $800,000 in debt service in the new budget for building projects.

Schreck noted the district has saved about $750,000 with East End Elementary closed during its renovation project. He said he wasn’t saying East End should close, but that the district was saving money with one less elementary school in operation. Schreck didn’t explain how the district was saving that much and couldn’t be reached for comment.

Roe said he felt the budget could be cut by trimming some of the supplemental contracts personnel receive for coaching and other extracurricular activities.

Deardorff said he would like “to get this down to zero (increase), but we have to get a budget through.” Deardorff said he could support the budget since it was a less than a 2-mill increase.

Under Pennsylvania law, a school district must have a new budget in place by June 30 each year. School districts run on a fiscal year of July 1 through June 30 of the following year.

Keith Gushard can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at kgushard@meadvilletribune.com.

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Divided district still eying tax-increasing budget

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