$115M preliminary budget would raise taxes 5.4 percent
COLEBROOKDALE » The Boyertown Area School Board voted 8-1 Feb. 13 to adopt a $115 million preliminary budget for the 2018-19 school year that would raise taxes by 5.44 percent if left unchanged.
Even tax hawks Clay Breece, Robert Caso and Ruth Dierolf voted in favor of the budget, convinced, evidently, by Interim Superintendent David Krem’s argument that not adopting the plan would limit flexibility later on in the process.
Board member Christine Neiman cast the only dissenting vote.
“I want to keep all programs, but comes a time in life when something’s got to give,” Neiman said. “We have to stop spending unnecessarily on stuff, be more fiscally responsible to community.”
Breece, Dierolf and Caso had also all indicated their opposition to the plan until Krem spoke.
“Even if you decide to close a school, the state procedure takes 24 months. It would not affect the coming budget,” said Krem.
“The hammer hasn’t even dropped yet in terms of what’s coming in the next two or three years,” said Krem, referring to the pension crisis, urging the board to ensure it has all its options available to deal with the difficult decisions ahead.
Act 1 requires school boards to either adopt a preliminary budget that stays within the state-imposed tax cap, or index, by the end of February.
Not adopting the preliminary budget before the February deadline means, “you’re basically cutting your own throat,” Krem said.
“If don’t approve this budget, that’s $1.5 million you can’t claim that your taxpayers will have to make up.” David Krem, Interim Boyertown Schools Superintendent
The other option for a board is to adopt a resolution pledging to keep within the state index in the final budget adoption in June.
Boyertown has taken that course of action in recent years, but a motion to do so two weeks ago failed on a 5-4 vote, with Caso, Breece, Dierolf and Neiman all voting to stay within the cap.
Under Act 1, if you don’t stay within the index, which for Boyertown this year is a tax hike of 2.9 percent, voter approval must be obtained in the spring primary — unless the district seeks “exceptions” from the state for a set of prescribed reasons that include pension payments, special education and construction.
In Boyertown’s case, the special education exception is being sought. That action was also approved by the board with only Dierolf and Neiman voting no. Exercising that exception would allow the spending of up to $1,583,570 above the amount raised by a tax hike within the index.
“If don’t approve this budget, that’s $1.5 million you can’t claim that your taxpayers will have to make up,” Krem said of the special education exception.
The budget without any tax increase, as it stands now early in the process,
has a deficit of nearly $5 million — $4,973,252 to be exact — according to the information included on the agenda.
Raising taxes to the index would reduce the deficit to $3.2 million and adding extra revenue from the exceptions would reduce it further still to $1.6 million.
Residents also supported the board’s choice.
Resident Stephanie Deiterich said regular, manageable increases are like investing in a retirement account, except the beneficiaries over time are the community and the students. She urged board members to stop using “houses up for sheriff’s sale” for non-payment of taxes as a “scare tactic” to instill fear about further tax increases. She said her research shows less than 1 percent of the homes in the district are up for sheriff’s sale.
John Landio, the board’s former president, said some had “duped the community into thinking we can have zero tax hikes,” and said the board needs to “work together,” noting that The Philadelphia Eagles did not win the Super Bowl as individuals, but as a team.
Lisa Hogan of Gilbertsville said she has four children in school and although she “loves my money,” she advocated for increased taxes to preserve the programs and reputation of the school district.
As Finance Committee Chairman Steve Eisler pointed out, it is very early in the process and the figures are likely to change several times before June.
In the interests of maintaining budget flexibility, Caso and Breece both said they would change their vote and support the budget. Ultimately, so too did Dierolf.
“Let’s pass it, get it over with and sharpen the pencils afterward,” said Caso.
Caso also chided the previous board for failing to undertake a year-long budget review and Krem agreed. “When you’re doing a budget, you should also be looking two and three years out,” he said. Eisler agreed.
“We need a new CFO, new look, and new ideas. We need new blood,” he said.
Longtime Chief Financial Officer David Szablowski announced his departure in November.
“So much of what we do is mandated, we have so little control of much of our budget,” said School Board president Donna Usavage. “What’s left is close to the students.”
Board member Brandon Foose suggested the board set up a workshop meeting dedicated solely to brainstorming about ways to cut costs and trim the tax hike without cutting programs.
Resident Ruth Baker offered up some suggestions, including using solar power, having energy audits done to save on operating costs; cutting the number of vice principals in the high schools and planting trees to shade buildings and cut down on air conditioning costs.
The next full school board meeting is Tuesday, Feb. 27, in the multi-purpose room at Colebrookdale Elementary School, starting at 6:30 p.m.
The next scheduled meeting of the board’s finance committee is Tuesday, March 6 at the Education Center, starting at 8 p.m.