SCHOOLS District raises taxes

The tax increase comes on the heels of a 3.9-mill increase last year.
WEST MIDDLESEX, Pa. -- The average residential taxpayer in the West Middlesex Area School District will have to come up with an additional $62 to pay the school real estate tax bill in the 2004-05 school year.
An $11,943,323 spending plan recently approved by the school board raised taxes an additional 3.45 mills in the district, which covers West Middlesex borough and Shenango and East Lackawannock townships.
One mill costs the average residential taxpayer about $18 and generates a total of about $62,000 in revenue for the district.
The budget is about $800,000 higher than last year, and the new millage total stands at 60.52 mills.
Increase last year
The tax increase follows a 3.9-mill rise last year needed to balance an $11.1 million budget for the 2003-04 school year.
Climbing employee health-care costs and increases in state-mandated contributions to employee retirement accounts were cited as principal reasons for that increase.
Superintendent Alan Baldarelli said major increases in the 2004-05 budget include: basic education salaries and benefits, up $529,000; special education salaries and benefits, up $111,000; student transportation, up $66,000; and vocational education, up $18,000.
The 3.45-mill property tax increase is expected to produce about $214,000 in new revenue.
Baldarelli said the school board also tapped the district's fund balance, sort of a savings account for so-called "rainy-day" emergencies, to the tune of $451,000 to help balance the new budget. There were no staff reductions.