New DV budget is finalized

DAVID HULSE
Posted 7/3/18

WESTFALL, PA — OKing a document that provided some $700,000 in new spending and carried no increase in the district tax rate, the Delaware Valley School District Board of Education gave final …

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New DV budget is finalized

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WESTFALL, PA — OKing a document that provided some $700,000 in new spending and carried no increase in the district tax rate, the Delaware Valley School District Board of Education gave final approval to a $81.9 million, 2018-19 budget on June 21.

The budget was approved by a 6-3 vote, with members Brian Carso, John Wroblewski and Rosemary Walsh opposed.

After debating several options that included rate increases, the board had left their May meeting with a commitment to approve a final budget this month that would not increase the tax rate. But they had not decided exactly what would be pared to make it happen.

This month, business manager Bill Hessling said those determinations included a decision, based on decreased Kindergarten enrollment, not to fill four vacant elementary teaching positions; a $100,000 reduction ($250,000 to $150,000) in the district’s budget reserve; and the “one-time expense” use of the current reserve.

The biggest dollar amount came with the elimination of $890,000 toward the Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) retirement fund. Hessling said OPEB payments are estimates toward long-term debt. Annual payments are not required, “but it’s nice to take care of it when we can afford it.”

On the positive side, Hessling said that five new positions that were considered for budget reduction elimination were retained in the budget. They comprise a new school psychologist position and four aide positions (two for the special-education program and one each for traffic control and the expanding Career Tech Education program).

By law, the district budget must be approved prior to the end of state’s June 30 fiscal year; a deadline that in recent years has not applied to the state budget and generally leaves several unknowns in school districts’ budget planning.

 On June 22, Gov. Tom Wolf signed the state’s new $32.7 billion budget, which according to his statement includes “an increase of $189.6 million for pre-K through 12, including $25 million for pre-K/Head Start, $100 million for Basic Education Funding, and $10 million for Career and Technical education.”

Following a string of zero-tax-rate-increase budgets ending 2012-13, DV has budgeted tax increases in four of the five subsequent years totaling 7.13%. Board members opposing a new tax increase argued that despite recent federal tax cuts, additional school taxation on top of last year’s 2.33% increase would create stress for new and recovering local businesses.

After it peaked at 5,740 in 2006-07, the district’s student enrollment has steadily declined and is projected to be 4,593 in the coming school year.

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