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BASD board gets a closer look at 2022-23 fiscal budget

BELLEFONTE — The Bellefonte school board held its first meeting in nearly three weeks and it got a closer look at the 2022-23 budget.

Ken Bean, Bellefonte’s director of fiscal affairs, gave a presentation during Tuesday night’s meeting, which was held at Bellefonte Elementary School as the board continues its tour of the district’s four elementary schools.

According to Bean, the district’s estimated expenditures for 2022-23 will be $57,500,000. Meanwhile, the district’s revenues are listed at $54,745,000. To balance the budget, the district would dip into its fund balance for $2,755,000. By dipping into the fund balance, it will sit at $4,026,023.

In the proposed tentative budget, the Act 1 adjusted index is at 4.3 percent. Tax millage is at 51.9843 (three percent). The amount under the index is $320,083. The amount needed to reach two percent is $254,000 and the amount needed to reach 1.5 percent is $381,000.

An interesting part of the presentation was a breakdown of athletic expenditures. The athletic budget for 2022-23 is listed at nearly $1 million — $990,000 — to be precise. Bean listed the cost for each sport. Not surprisingly, football is the most expensive of the district’s 17 sports, coming in at $99,022. The rest of the sports look like this: Track and field ($54,651), swimming ($49,695), wrestling ($44,484), girls’ basketball ($44,294), girls’ soccer ($44,285), boys’ basketball ($44,045), softball ($40,937), boys’ soccer ($38,813), volleyball ($36,455), baseball ($31,518), girls’ lacrosse ($30,705), boys’ lacrosse ($30,285), cheerleading ($26,720), cross country ($19,328), gymnastics ($18,509) and boys’ and girls’ golf ($16,390).

Other expenditures included: Athletic director and clerical assistance ($176,520), trainer ($93,344) and artificial turf ($50,000).

As far as athletic revenue is concerned, there is very little organic revenue. Football produces the most revenue ($23,000), followed by boys’ basketball ($7,500), volleyball ($4,350), girls’ basketball ($4,200), wrestling ($4,000), boys’ soccer ($3,000), girls’ soccer ($2,850), track and field ($2,000) and gymnastics ($300). The rest of the sports — baseball, softball, cross country, boys’ lacrosse, girls’ lacrosse and swimming — produce no revenue. The district makes $3,000 in season athletic passes, according to Bean’s report.

However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, attendance was limited at some events, causing a drop in revenue.

“Last year, we didn’t have any revenue in ticket sales as we didn’t have anybody (at) the events and if we did, we didn’t charge anyone for it. Those revenues are down,” Bean explained.

He said that he hoped to see ticket sales and revenues back to “pre-pandemic levels.”

At the conclusion of the presentation, Bean noted that there are several items “to be considered.” They are:

— The state budget (all subsidies are level funded currently).

— Real estate assessment (budgeted at 1.5 percent increase).

— Staffing and retirements (only two budgeted currently).

— Health insurance (waiting on more data for the year).

— ESSR funds budgeted at $1,278,450, which includes intervention aides, social workers, special education staff, BeLa staff, summer programs, tutoring and other costs.

The next step in the budget process will be for the board to adopt the proposed final budget at the Tuesday, May 10 meeting. Final budget adoption will come at the Tuesday, June 14 meeting.

The Bellefonte school board will meet again at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 10. That meeting will be held at Benner Elementary. It is open to the public.

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