For the first time in seven years, the Neshaminy School Board voted to raise taxes to catch up with rising expenditures.
The tax increase approved by the school board means the average property owner in the district will shell out $105 more per year. The millage rate will hike to 155.8.
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The total cost of the spending plan to start the financial year on July 1 is $181.6 million.
School board members and administrators blamed the tax increase on rising expenses and the growing annual contribution to the Pennsylvania School Employees Retirement System (PSERS), half of the $25.5 million the district will send to Harrisburg will be funded sometime during the budget cycle. Business administrator Barbara Markowitz noted Neshaminy’s PSERS contributions rose from $8 million to more than $25 million in the past five years.
Board member Steve Pirritano noted that rising PSERS costs have a significant impact on Neshaminy’s budgeting and where money is allotted.
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Board member Mike Morris asked residents to contact Harrisburg to help reform the burdened pension system.
The district will use about $2 million from its PSERS fund, the tax increase and fund balance to plug a roughly $5.7 million budget gap. In past years, the district has not had to take as much as projected from fund balance to fill the gap.
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Superintendent Joseph Jones said the district is saving through transportation tweaks and bringing some outsourced programs in from the Bucks County Intermediate Unit. He also said additional savings were achieved through retirements and some positions not being filled.
The district will invest by adding a program targeting middle and high school students who need a boost, add Chromebooks in the middle and high schools, growing preschool programs and adding to the high school’s library programs, which have seen a boost in recent years. He added that Neshaminy plans to grow their capital improvement budget to $900,000 annually. A number of improvements to school roofs, HVAC systems and parking lots are planned. In addition, the district plans to hire six new teachers to take on overcrowding concerns at the elementary level.
“It’s hard to believe we’ve been able to do what we’ve done,” Board President Scott Congdon said of Neshaminy’s budgeting without raising taxes over the past few years.
