Jan 21, 2016 By Harry Funk 2 min read

Four months before a final version is expected to be up for vote, Mt. Lebanon School Board approved a preliminary 2016-17 budget for the district.

“The key word here is ‘preliminary,'” Lawrence Lebowitz, board president, said at the Jan. 18 regular meeting. “This is the case because, as we have discussed for the past many months, we still do not have a state budget from Harrisburg, rendering it absolutely impossible to know what our final numbers will be.”

Meanwhile, the state requires school districts to submit preliminary budgets containing proposed tax rate increases to the Department of Education by Feb. 1, for districts that may want to consider raising rates exceeding the amounts determined by an index as per Act 1 of 2006.

“This by no means requires or even indicates that we will raise taxes, let alone do so up to the level of the index and exceptions,” Lebowitz said. “To the contrary, as is the case every year, we will do everything possible to minimize the tax burden on our residents while at the same time ensuring the excellence of our academic and extracurricular programs.”

For the record, the preliminary budget calls for a property tax rate of 24.34 mills, representing an increase of .8 mills, or 3.39 percent over the current 23.55 mills. The Act 1 index for Mt. Lebanon is a 2.4 percent increase.

Despite the “impossible to know” component, the document lists revenue from state sources at $18.7 million.

Resident Bill Matthews of Navahoe Drive pointed out to the board at the Jan. 18 meeting that Allegheny County’s online Community Profile for Mt. Lebanon, as posted three days prior, places the taxable value of real estate in the municipality at $2.74 billion, which is $41.7 million greater than the figure used in preparing the district’s preliminary budget.

The county figure also is $15.4 million greater than the tax base necessary to generate the amount listed in the preliminary budget as Revenues Generated by Tax Levy, $65.6 million.

“The impact of the updated certified value is that it is no longer necessary to raise millage above the index and/or request exceptions to the index,” he said in a prepared statement.

School board members and district administrators will continue to review projected revenues and expenditures, as more definitive information becomes available, with an eye toward adopting the final budget in May.