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MILL HALL -- The Keystone Central School District Board of Directors will need to decide if a tax increase is in the district's future for 2024-2025.
The board heard a final proposed General Fund budget from Business Manager Joni MacIntyre regarding its options during a work session on Thursday night.
A focal point of MacIntyre's presentation regarded a potential deficit of $1.5 million and how to close the gap.
At the board's work session in March, MacIntyre said this gap was due to a loss in funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and other factors.
Since March, MacIntyre said the administration has been taking steps to close this gap.
This includes evaluating open positions based on student needs and support through attrition and resignations.
"We are evaluating every open position based on student needs and support through attrition and resignations. We don't have that final number yet because we're still working through that," MacIntyre said.
The district is also offering Early Retirement Incentive to employees. MacIntyre estimates the district could see a cost savings of $80,000 to $300,000, with some staff members already committed.
"We still have a couple more weeks to get those retirement commitments in," she said.
The administration has directed to cut building budget spending as of April 3 for the 2023-2024 school year.
And, with approval of the board to uncommit $1.1 million from personnel spending, it could put the funding towards a match grant to offset facility costs.
"I was an administrative recommendation (in 2021). The rationale was unknown impact of pandemic or unemployment, future negotiations and enrollment," she said.
MacIntyre said the $1.1 million would be put towards a match -- totally $2,197,622 or 25 percent -- for a Public School Facility Improvement Grant. The district is looking to receive roughly $8.1 million to put towards HVAC improvements at Central Mountain High School.
A resolution to uncommit the funds and another to put it towards the grant match will be on the board's agenda next week.
In other efforts to close its funding gap, MacIntyre said the administration will put out a request for proposal for its Insurance Broker Services -- specifically its liability coverage -- that could see a potential savings of $20,000 to $50,000.
The district is also actively evaluating its software. Those cuts could see a cost savings between $30,000 to $75,000.
"We're seeing what we maybe can consolidate, what we don't need anymore, what's used consistently across the district," MacIntyre said. "One of the packages is our software program. I already know we'll have a savings of at least $30,000. That's projected for July 1 of next year."
Potential work to reduce expenses includes: target recruitment of CTE students; collapsing classes per student enrollment and putting out a request for proposal regarding insurance benefits.
"I do believe we'll close that gap. We may not close it entirely but we'll get close," she said.
According to MacIntyre's presentation, two recommendations were made, both of which feature a tax increase.
The first recommendation involves a decreased budget shortfall with a partial tax increase of 3.55 percent for the 2024-2025 school year. This would cause taxes to increase $55 per year for the average assessed home.
The presentation noted the impacts of this move which included:
-- Helps maintain level tax increases
-- Expenditures include rising costs of Healthcare
-- Expenditures include matching grant funds
-- Expenditures include funding for Capital Improvements
-- Maintain Fund Balance for Revenue Generation. Revenue generated is approximately $930,073 annually.
Through a millage rate comparison, MacIntyre's presentation noted it is the fourth lowest in the IU10 districts in its coverage area of Centre, Clinton and Clearfield counties.
MacIntyre's second recommendation was an increase of 1.78 percent for 2024-2025. The increase would mean an extra $35 per year based on average assessed home value.
The impacts for this potential move were listed as follows:
-- Helps maintain level tax increases.
-- Expenditures include rising cost of Healthcare
-- Expenditures include matching grant funds
-- Expenditures include funding Capital Improvements
-- Maintain Fund Balance for Revenue Generation. Revenue Generation with this increase would be about $465,036 annually.
The millage rate comparison remained the same in this recommendation.
Based on the budget timeline, the board is expected to settle on a proposed budget during its voting session on Thursday, April 11.
From there, the budget will be posted for public review.
A proposed final budget will be presented to the board on May 9 with final adoption expected to take place on June 13.
MacIntyre's budget presentation may be viewed in the district's Board Docs at https://go.boarddocs.com/pa/keyc/Board.nsf/Public