TRANSFER, PA. School officials reduce budget
Officials have been able to cut about $400,000 out of the spending plan.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
TRANSFER, Pa.-- A proposed 12.25-mill property tax increase in the tentative 2002-03 budget for the Reynolds School District has been trimmed substantially.
The final version of the budget will contain a tax increase of less than 7 mills, said Dr. Anthony Trosan, superintendent.
One mill generates about $75,000 in revenue, and trimming 5.25 mills from the tentative budget reflects reducing proposed spending by more than $390,000.
Those cuts came across the board and included a wide variety of items such as supplies and equipment and even new textbooks, Trosan said.
The tentative budget stood at $14,514,459. Trosan didn't have a figure reflecting all of the cuts, but the final budget total should be in the $14.1 million range.
One mill will cost the average residential taxpayer about $17 more per year.
A 7-mill increase would translate into a $119 additional tax bill.
The new millage rate would stand at 50, and those are the "new" mills, which are triple the value of a current tax mill.
Mercer County changed its property tax assessment ratio from 33.3 to 100 percent of assessed value this year.
One mill generated only $25,000 in revenue this year.
The tentative budget still calls for a wide range of job cuts that were listed when the budget was formally introduced May 22. Three teaching and one technology assistant posts vacated by resignations won't be filled, and that will save about $260,000.
Layoffs
The school board is looking at laying off 12 of the district's 114 teachers, eight special education aides, several cafeteria monitors, the director of curriculum, the attendance officer and two security guards, all of which will save about $870,000 more.
Class sizes will increase slightly, but no elementary classes will have more than 25 students ,except the sixth grade, which might have 27, Trosan said.
Most science and English classes in the middle-high school will have fewer than 25 students, although two science classes might reach 27. No classes will have more than 30, he said.
The school board learned May 1 that it needed $2 million to balance the proposed budget.
The problem was a combination of factors, including the district spending all of its $1.5 million budgetary reserve over the last four years, overestimation of anticipated revenues and someone forgetting to add $1.2 million in student transportation costs to the list of anticipated expenditures.
Because the property tax assessment ratio changed from 33.3 to 100 percent this year, the school district isn't allowed to raise property tax revenues by more than 10 percent for 2002-03.
A 7-mill increase would require the district to go to Mercer County Common Pleas Court for approval because it exceeds that 10 percent mark.
The district has a court date at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Mercer.
The school board is scheduled to vote on the final version of the budget at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.