‘Too many unknowns’ ahead for Mt. Lebanon School Board
‘Too many unknowns’ ahead for Lebo
By Jacob Calvin Meyer
Staff writer
jmeyer@thealmanac.net
The Mt. Lebanon School Board discussed the 2018-19 budget during its workshop meeting Jan. 8, with the focus being whether or not to apply for exemptions to raise taxes above the allotted Act 1 inflationary rate.
While several board members said it’s never the goal to raise taxes, especially above the index, they agreed there are too many uncertainties ahead to eliminate that option.
“It’s hard to put out there in the community that we want to tax our constituents above the Act 1 Index. We don’t,” board Vice President Sarah Olbrich said. “But we need to preserve all of our options. There are way too many unknowns this year.”
The board voted unanimously to apply for the exceptions during its Jan. 15 meeting.
The Act 1 Index for the school district is 2.4 percent, which is 0.57 of a mill, meaning the board will have to receive from the state to go above that threshold. If the board chooses not to exceed the index when it decides its budget at the end of the school year, the board could raise taxes 0.57 of a mill from 23.93 to 24.5 mills, representing a $57 increase for every $100,000 of assessed property value.
The school board did not raise taxes last year, but three times in the last eight years – 2010-11, 2012-13 and 2014-15 – it went above the Act 1 Index.
Business director Janice Klein explained to the board of the “unknowns” facing the school district, including the teacher salary negotiations, increasing pensions and increasing healthcare costs.
“I think we do need to keep our options open … to have those exceptions should we really need to use them,” said board member Elaine Cappucci. “I think that as we can see from that list of exceptions used we only use them in extreme necessity situations, and I think this board has the dedication not to use them but I would not like to eliminate that option at this time.”
Board President Michael Riemer agreed with Capucci and Olbrich, citing state-mandated pensions as something that is out of the board’s control.
“PSERS is something where our hands are tied and we have no control from the state on these things,” he said of the pensions.
“Passing a tax increase is the most difficult thing I’ve had to do here. Every year we’ve had to do this we’re also increasing taxes on ourselves and our neighbors and friends in the community. It’s something I can honestly say we take very seriously,” he said.
Also during the meeting, the board discussed the 2018-19 school calendar, which Superintendent Tim Steinhauer said is a relief this year compared to others.
“One of the nice things is we have two less variables. We have no construction going on and we have air conditioning,” he said. “For the first time in my nine years here, construction and air conditioning aren’t a constraint for us.”
The board was presented with three options, and most of the discussion was about the length of spring break.
The options were between a three-day, four-day or six-day spring break. The board discussed balancing the families that want to vacation over families with work obligations during the break.
“We have dual-working families that have expressed concern over the longer spring break and having to provide care for children for those additional days at a cost to them,” board member Stephen Strotmeyer said. “On the flip side, we have families that would love to go away for a 10-day ski vacation and have the longer break, so I think it would be important to leverage those two interests, which is why I think it would be best to do the four-day break.”
Board member Larry Lebowitz agreed, saying the four-day spring break is a “happy medium.”
The board unanimously approved at its Jan. 15 meeting the proposed 2018-19 school calendar with the four-day spring break.