Spring-Ford Board Votes to Approve Proposed Final Budget

Spring-Ford Area School District's board of directors voted to approve a proposed final budget of $131,543,734 with a 1.96 percent tax increase at Monday's work session meeting.

The legal timelines for a school district budget require that a propsed final budget be published and available for public inspection for 30 days prior to being voted on. Under this timeline, the final budget approval is scheduled to take place on June 24. 

The millage for the 2013-2014 school year is 25.254 mills, up from 24.769 mills last year. On a home valued at $100,000, the tax bill would be $2525.40, an increase of $48.50 from last year. 

To find the total tax bill for a home, multiply the home's assessed value by .025254. 

Spring-Ford only used one Act 1 exemption this year, for retirement fund contributions to the Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS). The district's contribution jumped 37 percent, totaling just over $1 million.

Board president Thomas DiBello said that the taxpayers should remember that the retirement funding issue is not the fault of the teachers or the district officials. 

"It's how the program was managed at the state level," DiBello said. "We could have had no tax increase without these [PSERS mandates]."

Salary and benefits continue to make up the largest portion of the total budget, with costs of outside services such as charter schools, cyber schools, and transportation making up another large part.

"We have the lowest millage rate of the districts around us," said business director Timothy Anspach in response to a question from board member Edward Dressler on how Spring-Ford compares to the area. 

"We're proud of what we did, we've maintained and added programs for our students and added books and technology," DiBello said.

The budget will be available on the district website for public inspection.