SHARPSVILLE Schools seek tax increase

Health care and employee retirement contributions are boosting spending.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARPSVILLE, Pa. -- The average residential property-tax bill in the Sharpsville Area School District will go up about $108 a year under terms of a proposed 2003-04 budget.
The school board voted 7-2 Monday to introduce a tentative $11,467,505 budget calling for a 6-mill property tax increase for the next fiscal year beginning July 1.
School Director Charles Rice said that millage translates into $108 a year for the average residential taxpayer.
One mill generates $60,000 in total revenue.
Dr. Derry Stufft, superintendent, said the proposed budget shows a $385,000 spending increase and also will use up $435,000 of the district's savings account. There will be just $120,000 left in that fund, he said.
Big expenses
Stufft said there are two big expenses that weren't anticipated but have to be dealt with in the new budget -- a $330,000 increase in employee health-care costs and an additional $75,000 in employee retirement fund contributions.
There is only one staff cut proposed in the budget, a teaching position that will be eliminated through attrition, he said.
School Director Donna Murray suggested that the post of curriculum director, which is vacant, shouldn't be filled, a step that would save the district about $100,000 a year, but she got no support.
Terry Karsonovich, board president, said $500,000 in proposed spending already has been cut out of the budget and additional cuts are possible before it comes up for adoption June 18.
Murray said the 6-mill increase is the equivalent of an 18-mill increase two years ago, before Mercer County changed the tax assessment ratio from 33.3 to 100 percent of a property's assessed value, a move that tripled the cost and value of 1 mill.
Opposition votes
She said she couldn't support that increase and voted against the budget, as did Director Tim Ruffo.
"I believe a 6-mill increase is ludicrous," Ruffo said, adding that taxpayers should look out for themselves by voting for the team of five school board candidates in today's election that will find ways to reduce that increase. Ruffo is the only incumbent who is a member of that team.
Directors Karsonovich, Rice, Susan Pokorney, Lori Gill, Kim Barringer, David DeForest and Joyce Grandy voted for the tentative budget.
gwin@vindy.com