School budget calls for tax hike

Taxpayers in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District will be paying more than $200 average more per year if the district’s proposed budget is adopted next month.

This week, school directors adopted a proposed operating budget of $85.4 million, with a tax rate of 30.7 mills for Chester County property owners, and a tax rate of 15.9 mills for property owners in Delaware County. If adopted, Chester County taxpayers will pay $220 more per year, and Delaware County taxpayers will pay $247 more per year. A mill represents $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value. The difference in rates reflects how Chester and Delaware counties assess property values.

The district’s budget falls within the state’s mandated Act 1 index of 3.4 percent.

Joe Deady, director of finance, told school directors that the numbers “could change favorably” before final adoption.

Salaries and wages, budgeted at $43.8 million, take up the bulk of the budget. It’s an increase of 2.9 percent over last year. Benefits are budgeted at $942,358, an increase of 3.5 percent over last year. Much of the budget is based on enrollment projections,

and enrollment is expected to be 4.876, down slightly from 4,000 in the 2017-18 school year.

Special education funding in February of this year was $1.8 million, or 6.8 perent more for hte same time period last year. For comparison, nearby Avon Grove School District allocated $3.3 million, Kennett Consolidated $2 million and West Chester Area School District, $5.5 million, for the same time period for special education.

The district is budgeting $69,000 to fill newly created positions.

The district’s health and safety plan is largely unchanged. Potential changes are testing just

symptomatic staff and students and reducing quarantine times to five days, from 10.

The budget is scheduled to be adopted at a public meeting on June 20.