SHARPSVILLE SCHOOLS Budget includes a rise in taxes for debt service

Final approval is set for June 18.
SHARPSVILLE, Pa. -- Property owners in the Sharpsville Area School District are facing a 6-mill increase in their property taxes.
A proposed 2001-02 budget introduced by the school board Monday reflects that raise in taxes.
However, none of that new revenue will go toward district operational costs.
All of it will be channeled into debt service to help pay for the nearly completed $12 million expansion and renovation of the Pebly School into a new central elementary school, said Dr. Derry Stufft, superintendent.
The $10,978,330 spending plan reflects a $475,000 increase over the current budget and Stufft said the difference will be covered by tapping the district's fund balance, the equivalent of a savings account for school districts.
That will leave the district with a fund balance of about $400,000, he said.
Final increase: The 6-mill tax increase will be the final one needed to pay for the elementary project, Stufft said.
Sharpsville enacted a 7-mill increase in 1999-2000 and 6 more mills this school year for that same purpose, earmarking a total of 19 mills for debt service.
One mill generates $20,000 in revenue and costs the average residential taxpayer about $6 a year, Stufft said.
The increase would raise Sharpsville's millage to 159.
The vote was 8-1 with school director Chris Ruffo casting the lone dissenting vote.
Final budget approval is set for June 18.
In other business, the board voted to hire Scott Lawn Yard of Sanborn, N.Y., to grade and reseed the football field at a cost of $17,900.
Stufft said the field has lost its crown over the past four or five decades and water no longer drains properly from the playing surface.