Bethel Park School District approves 2021-22 budget, raises taxes about 3.5%

Bethel Park School District officials approved their 2021-22 budget with an estimated 3.5% tax hike.

The board voted 8-1 at its June meeting to set next school year’s millage rate to 22.5272, an increase of 0.7618 mills.

Board member Russ Spicuzza dissented.

The hike equates to about a $116 increase in the tax bill to the median household of $152,400.

It is expected to generate about $1.95 million for the district.

District Finance Director Doug McCausland presented the final budget prior to the vote.

“This is really is a recommendation from our external auditors when they did our audit the last year,” McCausland said. “We’re recommending we increase the millage to keep pace with costs and to recover from a tax cut that was done in 2019-20. We’re still trying to catch up from that cut that was done a couple years ago.”

The district cut taxes by a little more than 8% in 2019-20.

The presentation listed 2021-22 revenues at about $94.01 million and expenses at $94.653 million.

The final budget was attached to the school board’s online agenda.

Barry Christenson, board member and finance committee chairman, said the tax hike still does not raise the rate as high as it was in 2016.

District officials plan to pull about $642,800 from the nearly $25 million reserve fund to balance the budget with no program or staff cuts.

About 75%, or $71 million, in costs are for salaries and benefits for district employees.

The budget also accounts for a 4% increase in pension costs and 10% increase in health care costs.

The district reduced staffing costs based on attrition and not replacing many people in some positions.

The budget lists retirements of one part-time nurse, one maintenance person and one administrator all not being replaced. One police position also will be eliminated.

Christenson said that strategy helped keep taxes flat for years prior to the tax cut.

“Our staffing levels were still more or less reflective of what they should have been when our student population was higher,” he said. “That’s a strategy that will continue to make sure that we’re right-sizing the district in terms of staff … That’s where a lot of the savings are. We have still some opportunity for improvement.”

Christenson said the district will evaluate its revenues and expenditures carefully to help minimize future use of the reserve fund.

District officials were looking at an estimated $5 million deficit in January.

Some of the district’s capital projects include leasing 1,400 new Dell laptops for high school students, replacing 300 Chromebooks at Independence Middle School as well as the replacement of the gym floor and installing a new HVAC unit at that school.

The district worked on developing a strategy to replace computers every few years and make related investments in order to stay ahead of the curve.

“That’s something that this whole covid process has taught us,” Christenson said. “Technology is pretty important and we’ve got to make sure it works … Technology is a part of K-12 instruction and it’s obviously here to stay. We have to make sure that we invest in that accordingly.”