Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
It’s crunch time for the Bristol Township School District, which is still working on a budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.
As of Thursday, the proposed $133 million budget still has a $4.4 million gap. Business manager John Steffy said a 2.4 percent tax increase that would max out at the Act 1 limit is expected to bring in about $1.8 million to help fill the deficit. About $3 million could be drawn from the district’s $5 million reserve fund.
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Under the proposed plan, the average property owner would pay $85 more next year in school taxes.
Board members discussed making cuts to the extra curricular budget. Board President Angela Nober asked for a 10 percent cut to the be considered, which Steffy said would cut on $13,000 in funding. Board member Stacy Gerlach offered that some groups could use fundraisers to pay for certain smaller costs.
The amount of money that could be taken from the reserves was of concern for many board members.
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“I’m not conformable with taking that big of a number out. It’s like draining your savings,” Nober said.
Board member Helen Cini said she disagrees with taking such a large number from the reserves and increasing taxes.
Steffy said the budget gap grew by at least $2 million in recent weeks due to the delayed opening of two new building at the sites of James Buchanan Elementary School and Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School in Levittown. The two new schools were supposed to open in September but will now open in January, which means nine costly elementary schools will remain open longer than expected.
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The business manager said if Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed budget is approved, the tax increase is imposed and the two new schools had opened come September, the district would save more than $2.5 million next year and actually have a surplus. In the coming years, a third new school in Croydon will save more money, according to Steffy.
The cash-strapped district will reduce two full-time positions to part-time and eliminate two non-teaching positions, according to the proposed spending plan.
Under the proposed spending plan, no salary increases have been budgeted for the second consecutive year. The district is currently in negotiations with several of its staff unions and has presented them with their budget plan, Steffy said.
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Board members asked Steffy how the recent decrease in the Moody’s Investors Service bond rating could impact future bonds. Steffy said the rating the district has is still strong, but the change could make borrowing money a bit more difficult when the district needs to take out a roughly $10 bond later this year.
As with all local districts, rising pensions costs, the increasing cost of supplies and the price of sending special needs students to outside schools continues to rise.
Currently, the budget is bare bones and does not feature extras that some other districts have built in, officials said.
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“There is nothing in our district that is over the top of extravagant,” outgoing Superintendent Dr. Sam Lee said. “This board has been good stewards of our finances.”
“Our budget picture is much better than it was in previous years,” Steffy said.
The budget will be discussed at a 6 p.m. meeting Monday at the administration building of Mill Creek Road. At 7:30 p.m., the school board will vote on the budget, which has to be passed by June 30.
