Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Once again, taxpayers in the cash-strapped Bristol Township School District will see a tax increase.
The school board voted 5-3 to approve the $134,427,436 million spending plan for the 2016-2017 fiscal year that starts July 1. Board Vice President Constance Moore along with board members Jerry Bachman, Shane Bowen, Amanda Geist and Stacy Gerlach voted in favor of the budget. Board President Angela Nober and board members Jim Baker and Gallus Obert voted against the spending plan. Board member Helen Cini, who has voiced her opposition to tax increases in the past, was absent from the meeting due to vacation.
Advertisements
The average property owner will now pay $115 more in taxes. The millage rate will jump to 213.054 and the average tax bill will come in at $3,853.
The budget is using $2.6 million in fund balance and raising taxes by 3.1 percent to fill a roughly $5 million budget gap, officials said.
While the district has cut the budget to the bone and will see some savings from consolidating from nine elementary schools to three, risings special education, pension, charter school and salaries weigh on the budget, district business manager John Steffy said.
Advertisements
Superintendent Dr. Melanie Gehrens said three teachers were furloughed, but two of the teachers are already being reinstated to fill vacant positions left open after 15 retirements. A similar situation is happening with a select few members of the support staff. Some maintenance personnel also went from full-time to part-time, but every school will continue to have a full-time maintenance member on staff, Gehrens said.
The new framework for the contract with the Bristol Township teachers’ union means the district had to account for $900,000 extra spending in next year’s budget.
Advertisements
Steffy said earlier this month that the district has already made cost-cutting measures over the years and didn’t have too much room to make cuts.
