Officials consider 4.4 percent tax hike

COATESVILLE » If the preliminary budget remains unchanged, property owners in the Coatesville Area School District will be paying 4.4 percent more in taxes next year.

The 4.4 percent tax hike is the largest allowed under Pennsylvania’s Act 1 index, but school directors say it is needed to close a $4.1 million budget gap. The Act 1 index is used to determine the maximum tax increases for each tax the school district levies, without voter approval. If adopted, it would mean taxes would have increased 7.3 percent in just two years.

The current tax rate is 39.691 mills, and if the proposed budget it adopted, it would bring the millage rate to 41.437 mills.

“We will continue to explore our options between now and the final budget adoption in June and will continue to try to reduce the 4.4 percent as best we can, said Richard Dunlap, substitute superintendent, filling in for Superintendent Tomas Hanna.

As with all other school districts, salaries and benefits take up a huge chunk of the expenditures, but for Coatesville, more and more of the budget is going toward charter school funding, specifically Avon Grove Charter School and Collegium Charter School.

Coatesville pays $11,500 per pupil per year for students who opt to attend Collegium or Avon Grove Charter.

More than 3,000 students from the Coatesville Area School District now attend charters, up from about 1,700 five years ago. In that time, Coatesville’s payments to charters has expanded by $33 million, to about $54 million per year.

School directors are expecting to spend $71.1 million for salaries and benefits for teachers, administrators and support staff, making up about 36 percent of the budget. But charter school spending makes up 34.4 percent of the proposed budget, or just over $67 million.

Transportation is expected to cost the district $9.2 million, or 4.7 percent of the budget, and special education $16.1 million, or 8.1 percent of the budget. Debt and legal is budgeted at $17.9 million, for a total budget of $195 million.

On the revenue side, the district is expecting to receive $126.5 million from local sources, $54.1 million from the state, and $10.3 million from the federal government.

The school board will review the budget for preliminary adoption later this month, with final approval expected at the June 14 meeting, with both meetings open to the public.