The Pennsbury School District has held the line on taxes for the 2020-2021 school year.
The Pennsbury School Board voted virtually last Thursday to keep the tax rate steady and approve a $217.9 million spending plan. The tax rate will remain at 170.076 mills.
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The budget expects $214.6 in revenues. To fill the gap, the district is planning to use a little more than $3.3 million from the existing $17.2 million fund balance.
With uncertainty due to COVID-19 and its impacts on the economy, the new budget, which starts July 1, keeps spending largely flat and only a .06 percent increase over the 2019-2020 spending plan, Pennsbury’s Chief Financial Officer Christopher Berdnik told the school board.
After a “long journey,” the district was able to achieve savings through health care and insurance cost decreases. In addition, there is no budgeted funds for new positions, three job vacancies are not being filled, no set asides, and 23 retirements are expected, Berdnik said.
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The district continues to be burdened with the weight of increasing pension fees, special education investment, charter school costs, and unfunded mandates.
In his presentation, Berdnik said the district has “worries” over the impact of COVID-19 on revenues and funding from state government. He pointed to projections that local revenues due to COVID-19 across the state could be down $1 billion.
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Among Berdnik’s “key assumptions” are state subsidy and interest earnings being down $2.35 million since the pandemic began to impact the economy.
“This is not yet the worst case scenario,” he warned.
Berdnik said school programs could be impacted and tax increases are likely if economic downturn continues for the next two years.
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