Interboro will not raise taxes over state allowance

PROSPECT PARK » Interboro is the latest school district committed to not raising its school property taxes over the statemandated limit for 2018-19.

A 7-0 vote by the school board last Wednesday approved a resolution to not exceed the Act 1 index rate of 3.2 percent for the next school budget, even with preliminary numbers in a $68 million budget showing a deficit of over $3.3 million dollars before any sort of tax increase. Director Kelly Boyle was absent from the meeting.

Of the figures released at the board’s finance meeting from Jan. 11, salaries and benefits are projected to increase $1.9 million from last year. Some reductions were reported in local and state revenues.

“We should go for the 3.2,” Boyle said at that meeting. “You have to be safe. This way we can always lower it instead of going higher. We have plenty of time to straighten this out.”

She later added that the programs in the district still need to run and keep the standards very high.

With a 3.2 tax percent increase, the deficit would decrease to $2 million while adding $102 to the tax bill for a property in the district at the average assessed value of $88,000. Health care and retirement numbers are not finalized for the budget so savings may still be found there. Shaving off from other budgeted areas would still need to be considered.

“Over the last couple of years we’ve been nickel-and-diming the different departments, so I’m not sure how much more (we can go),” said board Vice President Justin Shivone.

District Director of Finance Martin Heiskell recommended not going over 3.2 percent.