Carmichaels advances budget
CARMICHAELS – Carmichaels Area School Board on Wednesday approved the district’s 2016-17 tentative budget, which lists spending at $16,643,615, about $300,000 less than the preliminary budget it approved in January.
The board has not decided on the property tax rate, Business Manager Amy Todd said. However, the district is not permitted under state law to increase taxes by more than 1.46 mills.
Todd said she didn’t believe the board would raise taxes by the full amount allowed by law.
“We don’t expect it to be that high,” she said.
The board has more work to do on the budget and will hold budget meetings prior to the adoption of the spending plan in June, she said.
The board was required to approve a preliminary budget in January under the state’s Taxpayers Relief Act if it was considering increasing property taxes in excess of the established inflationary index. That budget listed spending at $16,947,459.
The inflationary index for the district would allow the board to increase taxes by 0.84 of a mill. The board, however, wanted the option of increasing taxes above that amount should it believe it necessary, Todd said.
To increase the budget in excess of that index, the board not only had to approve a preliminary budget in January but also receive approval for exceptions from the state Department of Education.
The district received exceptions from the education department for increases in special education and retirement costs. Todd said.
This allows it to increase property taxes by a maximum of 1.46 mills.
Retirements costs under the state’s school retirement system jumped in the last few years and are projected in the district’s tentative budget to increase by $236,000, Todd said.
For the current year budget, the district paid 25.84 percent of payroll into the state retirement system.
That is expected to increase to 29.27 percent this year, she said.
Special education costs are expected to increase by $116,000 next year, Todd said. One other major increase in the budget is for tuition for cyber schools, which is expected to jump by $70,000 to $480,000, she said.
Any increase in the tax rate exceeding the index the board finally adopts will be for operational costs, special education and retirement, and not to pay down debt on the school renovations projects, Todd said. The board earlier agreed to fund the renovations with tax increases within the index amount.
The district currently levies a 23.40-mill property tax. The board increased taxes last year by 0.65 of a mill, the index amount for that year. The additional revenue from that increase was earmarked to pay off bonds for the renovation projects.
The board considered its preliminary budget in April instead of May, as it normally does, to allow it to have the required 30-day period between preliminary approval and final adoption, Todd said.
In other business, the board accepted the resignation of tax collector Judy Armstrong. Todd was appointed tax collector in her place and Keystone Collections was appointed deputy tax collector.
Work on the elementary renovation project is expected to get underway Monday on the third floor of the building.
The fourth- and fifth-grade students who occupy that floor will have classes in the modular classrooms that were used during the middle-senior high renovation projects. No workers will be in the school, or work conducted, during school hours, school officials said earlier.
The board awarded $4.6 million in contracts for the elementary renovation project earlier this month.