Interboro OKs budget plan with 3.4 % tax increase

PROSPECT PARK » A proposed final budget for the Interboro School District was approved 7-2 by the school board on May 17 with a tax increase higher than last year’s 2.9 percent.

The $66 million budget includes a 3.4 tax increase that, if adopted in the final budget next month, would be the highest such tax increase for the district in some time. According to a proposed final budget at-aglance sheet, district taxes have never been raised higher than 2.9 percent in one year since at least 2007-08.

The millage rate would increase to 36.1076, adding $105 to the tax bill of a home with the average assessment of $85,000.

Directors Paul Eckert and Michael Burns voted against the proposed final budget.

Although last year’s budget was prolific in its move to furlough positions throughout the district to make ends meet, drastic cuts to staffing or programs have not been included in this year’s spending plan. However, some furloughed positions in the current year’s budget are reported to have since been resurrected.

The biggest expense driver in the budget is salaries making up 49 percent of the budget. Some ease came to the district in this category when the approximately 300-member teacher’s union agreed to a pay freeze for the next school year as part of a three-year collective bargaining agreement effective July 1.

Benefit contributions, including those to the state pensions retirement system, are 30 percent of expenditures.

District officials would not comment on the proposed final budget following the vote.

Changes may be made to the final budget up until its adoption by the school board next month.