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BELLEFONTE -- Residents in the Bellefonte Area School District could see a slight tax increase this upcoming year.
During Tuesday night's school board meeting, the board approved the proposed final budget for 2023-24. The tax millage rate was listed at 52.5103, a 2 percent increase from the previous year's rate of 51.4603 mills. The adjusted index is at 5.1 percent.
Ken Bean, director of Fiscal Affairs, presented the budget to the board and explained the numbers for everyone in attendance.
Total revenues, he said, will come in at $57,070,000, using $2,705,000 of its fund balance and setting the total funds available at $59,775,000 -- an increase from last year's $57,290,000.
Total expenditures from the district are $59,775,000. The fund balance, however, sits at $4,186,265.
The expenditures in the budget include two new positions, a Math Interventionist and Director of Safety and Security, as well as a health insurance increase of $200,000.
Superintendent Tammie Burnaford commented on the need for these two positions.
"At this time we have one elementary math interventionist… He needs help. We proposed that we would add another (specialist) to help with the math gaps we have at the elementary level," she said.
"The Director of Safety and Security -- we're still working on that job description -- but that would be someone who would oversee the safety and security of the district. It would be a police officer (or something)… and would enhance our safety and security," continued Burnaford.
In Bean's presentation, he noted the PSERS rate saw a decrease, something that hasn't taken place for at least a decade.
"The PSERS rate which is the state retirement system is at 34 percent -- that is a decrease for the first time in 10 or 15 years. It's down almost 2 percentage points," said Bean.
PSERS total cost is $7,701,209, a slight decrease from last year's cost of $7,761,042.
There is no increase in CPI tuition from last year's budget, staying at $2.17 million; meanwhile charter school costs are $3.8 million, a $300,000 increase.
The athletic fund comes in at $900,000 with food service totalling $100,000.
$500,000 was set aside from the budget for the new elementary building as well as $250,000 for existing building repairs.
An additional $800,000 was budgeted for the high school rooftop HVAC units, with $200,000 budgeted for middle school auditorium seating.
The committed fund balance, as of July 1, 2023, includes:
-- Future building project – $3,350,662
-- Existing building repairs – $625,000
-- Variable interest rate – $200,000
-- Curriculum and Instruction – $300,000
This is a total of $4,475,662 available to the district to put towards the elementary project, future building needs for the other schools and also to have for any potential issues regarding curriculum and/or variable rate bonds.
The $3,350,662 listed for the Future Building Project will offset any borrowing the District would need to do to build the new school.
As he'd done last year, Bean looked at elementary class sizes and displayed the projected class sizes for Bellefonte, Benner, Marion-Walker and Pleasant Gap Elementary schools.
Bean broke the schools down by grade level, number of students in each grade, number of sections in that grade and the class size.
The average class size for both Bellefonte and Benner Elementary is 18.2 students per class; for Pleasant Gap that number is 16.6 and Marion-Walker has an average of 21.4.
"Keeping those low classroom sizes, computers -- Chromebooks, the curriculum and many other things we do for our students, I think we can all be very proud of the amount we've done for our students," said Bean.
Bean also shared a summary of revenue and expenditures that compares this year's budget with budgets from 20-21, 21-22 and 22-23 which breaks down the numbers.
There are still a few aspects to be determined, according to Bean, he proposed these questions/statements:
-- Current millage rate is at a 2.0 percent increase. What increase are we comfortable with considering the current economic conditions and the elementary project?
-- Final health insurance rates have not been established yet.
-- Safety/Security and mental health grants are reported to be included with the state budget. Some savings might be realized.
The proposed final budget will be considered for final adoption at the regular meeting of the Board of School Directors on June 13 at 7 p.m. The Bellefonte school board will meet again at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23, at the Bellefonte Area Middle School.