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South Fayette School Board prepares for another tax increase

By Jacob Calvin Meyer staff Writer jmeyer@thealmanac.Net 4 min read
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With the deadline to finish its budget a month away, the South Fayette School Board is bracing for a possible tax increase.

After April’s budget presentation foreshadowed a $3-4 million shortfall no matter what the board decides with the real estate tax rate, the district announced May 15 that it made $420,000 in cuts to chip away at the deficit.

Director of Finance Brian Tony said the cuts came from a variety of places, including the sciences, the library, social studies and technology.

The proposed budget from January, which projected a $5.06 million deficit, has been cut by more than $1.5 million.

Tony recommended to the board to “keep all of the options on the table,” meaning, as of now, raising taxes up to the Act 1 inflationary index of .8277 mills.

“We’re hopeful we can get down to a zero tax increase,” Tony said of the $56.63 million budget. “But until we absolutely have to, I would keep the index on the table.”

Board president Alan Vezzi said having more options in June is what the board has typically elected to do in recent years, of which nine of the last 11 budgets have resulted in tax increases for the rapidly growing district.

“Typically, at this point, we’ve left the index in just to have that option available to us when we come into next month to make the decision on the final budget,” Vezzi said.

After the cuts, the potential shortfall is between $2.69 million for a maximum tax increase and $3.79 million for no tax increase. In every scenario, the board will draw from its $23 million fund balance to level the budget.

Tony said not all of the numbers in the budget can be exactly finalized by the end of June, as its basic education funding and special education funding come from the state, which isn’t expected to have its budget done before its June 30 deadline.

“We’re still trying to get information from the governor’s office,” Tony said. “We never know if they’re going to increase or decrease our (state) revenue.”

Tony said the business office will now look at some contingent positions and expenses in the budget that can be cut before the final budget is passed in late June. Vezzi said that while he’s hoping to not raise taxes like the board avoided doing last year, he understands the challenging situation South Fayette is in as a district.

“We are trying to get the numbers lower; they may reduce even more,” he said. “We plan for the worst scenario and plan for the best scenario.”

Also during the meeting, Superintendent Ken Lockette announced the district is in a preliminary agreement to hire eSchoolView to design and host the district’s new website through 2023. The setup fee is $5,900 with a $375 monthly fee, totaling about $22,500 over the five years.

“The current website doesn’t really help tell our story,” Lockette said. “It’s antiquated, and we’re actually paying more for it than we will be paying for the new website.”

Assistant Superintendent David Deramo, who informed the board that the district’s website was not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act in April, explained the benefits of the new website.

“eSchoolView came out on top essentially because of its convenience or interfacility with Google and the direction we want to go,” Deramo said. “It was also their responsiveness and (their) compliance with ADA. It’s not only going to be the savings of going over to a new provider but also will eliminate the cost of the additional fee of the ADA scanning.”

He explained the five-year agreement for $28,400 total will save the district $46,600, considering it will not have to pay for the monthly ADA scanning. The new website is expected to be rolled out in the fall.

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