Board eyes $157.9M draft preliminary budget, $4M gap

Early projections in the Spring-Ford Areas School District show a preliminary budget gap of nearly $4million for the 2017-18 school year.

Superintendent David Goodin and finance director James Fink presented the proposed preliminary budget of $157.9 million during Tuesday night’s school board meeting. With approximately $149 million in revenue, combined with about $4 million in fund balance appropriation and a transfer of approximately $860,000 from committed funds (retirement), the district has to make up about $3.9 million to balance the budget.

If it feels too early to be talking about next year’s budget, you’re not wrong. But the lack of a board meeting in December (other than the Dec. 5 reorganization meeting) forces the district to begin preliminary budget talks now, in order to stay in line with Penn- sylvania’s Act 1 preliminary budget timeline.

Act 1 is a property tax relief last that caps the amount a district can raise property taxes without first getting voter approval. According to the timeline, a preliminary budget must be available for public inspection by Jan. 26. Then a public notice of adoption must be submitted by Feb. 5 and adoption must take place 10 days later.

“Clearly doing a budget this early poses some challenges,” Goodin said. “Of note, the ma- jor challenges are the lack of two things: current year data and the state budget.”

It’s still too early into the school year to use actual budget data to analyze, he said. Plus state education, transportation and special education subsidies, along with any further property tax reforms are all unknowns at this point. Additionally, given Harrisburg’s tumultuous budget history in recent years, the district is uncertain about how much it will re--

ceive in state funding.

On the expense side, wages and benefits account for 70 percent of the budget, with $102 million in total personnel costs in 201617. That figure will climb to $105.6 million in 2017-18. Additionally the district’s debt schedule takes up another 10 percent of the budget, Fink said, with $14.7 million in debt service payments next year.

On the revenue side, local revenue has basically not changed, while state contributions may increase by about 2 percent. Federal funding is expected to remain flat.

To help prepare and avoid any “bumps in the road” Fink said he and his team created a five year forecast model. The model accounts for things like labor contract terms and assumptions, the debt service schedule and revenue trends to help officials make informed decisions about the budget moving forward.

Several members of the board railed against Harrisburg for its role in the district’s uncertainty. The state’s budget deadline is June 30, while the district has to approve a budget in May. This makes it hard for officials in Spring-Ford to determine how much state funding the district will receive, they said.

“It’s frustrating,” said board President Tom DiBello. “We don’t know what we’ll get from the state. We have to use the numbers from last year.”

“The state is failing,” said board Vice President Joe Ciresi. “We have to do a guessing game once again. No true formula that works.”

“We don’t guess our car payment,” said board mem- ber Colleen Zasowski. “We don’t guess our mortgage payment.”

Boardmember DawnHeine said she was frustrated by the fact the district can’t change its budget once it’s locked in before urging residents to contact their legislators in Harrisburg.

DiBello, like many on the board, thanked Fink for the forecast model because it will help with planning for “hurdles coming up” and set up future boards for success.

To view the entire preliminary budget presentation online, visit http://bit.ly/2gzcrU7.