Jun 24, 2014 3 min read

WAYNESBURG- The Central Greene School Board adopted its 2014-15 general fund operating budget Tuesday evening with a tax increase of 0.72 of a mill bringing the district’s millage rate to 25.47 mills. This means a property owner whose property is assessed at $50,000 will see an increase of $36, taking the amount paid from $1,237.50 to $1,273.50. An assessed property value of $250,000 would increase $125, taking the amount paid from $6,187.50 to $6,367.50.

The millage increase was part of a group of tax levy resolutions approved by the board Tuesday. The other taxes included the realty transfer tax and earned income tax resolutions. Both remained the same as previous years at 1 percent.

Board members voting against raising the millage rate were Eleanor Chapman, Joe Ayersman and Roberta Boyd.

Ayersman said he feels sorry for those on fixed incomes.

“The cost of living keeps going up but their incomes are not going up and taxes are being raised,” Ayersman said. “I just feel bad to do this to them.”

In a handwritten statement, provided after the board meeting, Chapman said she couldn’t vote for a tax increase based on current fund balance and debt service investment figures in the district.

District Business Manager Debbie Crouse noted the numbers Chapman based her decision on are not final figures and do not take into consideration current outstanding debt or additional expenditures that may arise and be deducted over the remainder of this fiscal year.

The operating budget lists anticipated expenditures of $32,651,766 with revenues of $31,048,153. In order to balance the budget, it includes an anticipated transfer of $500,000 from the debt service fund and an anticipated use of $1,103,613 from the fund balance.

Board President Andrew Corfont said one has to take into consideration all of the possible scenarios that could arise to affect the finances in the district. Taking the fund balance to low would not be fiscally prudent, he noted.

“It is very frustrating because we have certain time frames we have to adhere to when passing our budget. We have to create a budget without knowing what may be coming in from the state,” Corfont said. “We had to raise taxes to cover what we feel we may be receiving, or not (in state funding).”

The amount anticipated for education in the governor’s upcoming budget, according to district Superintendent Brian Uplinger, is not expected to go up and, in fact, may be less than the previous school year. Uplinger said this is based on information provided to him during a meeting with the Intermediate Unit 1.