No tax increase expected for next year

The Gateway school board appears to be in agreement on a budget for next school year that would require no tax increase, but board members could not agree on hosting a candidates night at the high school auditorium.

Business manager Paul Schott on Tuesday recommended a proposed general fund budget of $75.9 million that does not include a tax increase for 2017-18.

A budget meeting will be held at 6 p.m. May 18 in the high school LGI room, and the board is to vote on the proposed budget May 23. The final public hearing on the budget will be held June 6 in the high school LGI room, with a final budget considered at the board’s June 20 meeting.

The proposed budget would keep the property tax rate at 19.3264 mills, or about $1,932 per $100,000 of assessed property value. Mr. Schott said the numbers will continue to change until the final budget is approved.

The board, however, did not approve the use of the high school auditorium for a nonpartisan “meet the candidates night” on Monday. The event Community organization Monroeville Community Cares was sponsoring the event.

Directors Mary Beth Cirucci, George Lapcevich, Neal Nola and Chad Stubenbort voted in favor of allowing the organization to hold the candidates night at the high school. Board president Scott Williams, Steve O’Donnell, John Ritter and Valerie Warning abstained. Stephanie Byrne was absent. The motion needed a fivemember majority to pass, according to district solicitor Bruce Dice.

Mr. O’Donnell said he abstained because he believed he had a conflict because he is campaign manager for Ms. Byrne, who is running for mayor of Monroeville.

Mr. Ritter said he abstained because, “I serve as a secretary on a local political committee, so there’s a conflict.”

Mr. Williams said he abstained because he is running for re-election.

“I’m going to abstain from my perspective of supporting candidates in this, and I don’t want to be caught in the middle,” Ms. Warning said.

Mr. Dice offered his advice before the vote. “I think in a literal sense under the ethics act, provided you’re not spending any

money, there’s no conflict,” he said. “It may appear to some that there’s a conflict and certainly you have a right to make the expression that you believe there is a conflict.”

Mr. Stubenbort, who also is running for mayor, said he felt a candidates night was long overdue. “I think the community deserves to see where candidates lie on issues,” he said.

No one representing the Monroeville Community Cares organization was at the meeting, and there was no information on whether the event will be held at another venue.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the board approved to put a new food service policy on a 30-day public display. The new policy would require that all food three years or older be discarded. The former policy, which followed USDA guidelines, allowed for frozen foods to be kept indefinitely.

Food service director Martin Lorenzo said he was “more than comfortable” with the new policy.

Also at the meeting, superintendent William Short announced that Gateway received a bronze medal from U.S. News and World Report. Gateway High School was ranked No. 86 out of 686 high schools in the country.