Fox Chapel Area School District officials pledge to keep any tax increase in 2023-24 within state cap

Fox Chapel Area property owners should not expect any hike in real estate taxes beyond 4.1% for next school year.

School district officials unanimously approved a resolution at its combined workshop and regular meeting Jan. 9 pledging to keep any tax hike within an inflation-based state limit.

Act 1, passed in 2006 to provide property tax relief, sets a tax cap for school districts to cover normal inflationary costs and still pass a balanced budget.

Eric Hamilton, school director and board treasurer, said the district has never raised taxes above the index and does not plan to start now.

“Our ability to stay under the index is certainly a credit to the district’s fiscal responsibility as well as its solid economic tax base,” Hamilton said after the meeting.

A potential tax increase would even be less than 2%, if history is any indication.

The district raised taxes by 1.5% in this school year’s budget, and by 1.3% for the 2021-22 school year.

The current property tax rate is 20.4288 mills.

It is unclear how much more property owners would have to pay if the district would raise taxes to the index.

District spokeswoman Bonnie Berzonski said officials do not yet have 2023 property assessment values or the median home value for this year.

“Once this information is provided to us, then the district can calculate this information,” Berzonski said.

Audit report

Peter J. Vancheri, a partner with the firm Hosack Specht Muetzel & Wood, summarized a 90-page audit report. Vancheri said there were no findings or recommendations in the report, which examined the district’s finances through the past fiscal year to June 2022.

He noted the district budgeted $108 million in revenues and about $104 million in expenses for that time, and came out about $3.7 million to the good with earned income tax and real estate transfer taxes coming in higher than expected. Spending also ended up being under-budget by about $2.7 million.

Local revenue sources such as real estate taxes constituted about 77% of total revenues, 19% from the state and 3.6% from the federal government.

The district has an estimated $28.5 million fund balance, or reserves. It also has an estimated $2.9 million in reserves in its capital projects fund.

“Financially, yes, (it’s in good shape),” Vancheri said. “There were no findings as noted in the financial statements there. We did not have any issues.”

Hosack Specht Muetzel & Wood has been Fox Chapel’s auditing firm for the past several years. No issues were found in those reports, which were also posted on the district’s website.

“There are always uncertainties in the budget, and last year things went in our favor on both taxes and expenses,” Hamilton said. “Some of that was due to uncertainties related to covid. We always tend to budget conservatively and hope to come out ahead. That leaves the district with a lot more flexibility than if you end up in the reverse situation where you’re behind. Then you’re digging out of a hole.”

Hamilton credited the hard work of district administrators, as well as input from committees and boards, as crucial to having consistently successful audits.

“I think the establishment of our projects and planning committee, as well as the ongoing support of the resource planning group that we have of community members, both of those entities help us provide the oversight and the planning that leads to good outcomes,” Hamilton said.

The latest audit report was posted on the district’s website in the annual financial reports and financial statements section of the Budget & Finances tab.

It is also available under the School Board section of the website in the meeting agendas, minutes, documents and broadcasts section of the 2023 meetings.