Schools
District's Preliminary Budget Shows No Tax Increase
Saucon Valley superintendent Sandra Fellin said this would be the fourth consecutive year without a tax increase.
superintendent Sandra Fellin presented the district's 2012-2013 preliminary budget to the school board at its Jan. 23 meeting.
The $40,104,832 budget as presented requires no tax increase for the fourth year in a row.
Although no tax increase is expected, Fellin said the budget increased by $470,222.
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Fellin said the retirement of 13 teachers, a pay freeze accepted by support staff, the lowering of interest rates and an insurance review all helped balance the 2012-2013 budget.
There are still some unknowns within the spending plan, however.
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Fellin did not figure the teachers' contract into the budget since negotiations on a new contract are incomplete. She said that for each percentage increase in teachers' salaries, $128,000 will have to be added.
In addition, the state's budget will affect the district's budget. The school could be reimbursed for items such as social security, Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS) funding and basic educational funding.
The cost for PSERS increased to 12.36 percent, adding $665,161 to the budget. Fellin said next year the increase will be 16.69 percent, or $820,000.
"This is not going to be feasible. The community needs to start screaming about this," said board member Lanita Lum. "Kudos to you for finding ways to do this (balance the budget with the PSERS increase)."
Within her budget presentation, Fellin asked the board to consider projects for the upcoming school year, including:
- A two-year transportation cycle to replace old buses.
- Repairing/replacing the stage's floor.
- Finding a solution to a problem involving water in the high school basement.
- Replacing old, large musical instruments such as a xylophone, tubas and sousaphones.
- Fixing the peeling high school and gym floors.
- Realigning the high school guidance offices.
- Fixing cracks in the parking lots.
"If we don't address some of these items now, they could become maintenance or safety issues," Fellin said.
In the course of the budget discussion, board member Ralph Puerta asked about revisiting the topic of getting rid of the district's $10 per capita tax.
Other members agreed to discuss the matter at a future meeting.
