Proposed Hampton school budget includes real estate tax increase

A 0.86-mill real estate tax increase of is included in the proposed final 2023-24 budget, as approved unanimously on May 8 by Hampton Township School Board.

The increase, projected to generate an extra $1.56 million for the school district, is necessary to help revenues meet an anticipated $61.51 million in expenditures.

Also bridging the gap in the proposed spending plan is $400,000 from a long-term stabilization fund established by the district, plus $208,596 from Hampton’s unassigned fund balance, although officials had hoped to avoid tapping into the reserve account.

“The administration is going to continue to work to bring this down,” Superintendent Michael Loughead said. “We think there are more savings in expenditures, perhaps some revenue adjustments, as well.”

A vote on the final budget is expected at the school board’s June 12 meeting.

If approved, the real estate tax rate will rise from 20.99 mills to 21.85 mills, or 4.1%. That represents the maximum for Hampton under the state-calculated Act 1 index, Pennsylvania’s measure for determining tax increases justified by wage inflation.

According to information provided in the proposed final budget, the increase for a property assessed at the median value for Hampton — $170,950 as of this month — would be $147.

Between board meetings on April 24 and May 8, the district pared $9,988 from budgetary expenditures while deciding to change two positions, elementary guidance counselor and high school special education instructor, from half-time to full-time.

While each adds $51,565 in salaries and benefits, the costs are offset by the elimination of a half-time high school mathematics position ($54,564) and adjustments to the technology and athletics budgets, saving $38,366, and $26,375, respectively.

Overall, the 2023-24 budget calls for a 4.25% increase in expenditures over the current fiscal year. One of the drivers is a 14% bump in health insurance premiums, through Hampton’s membership in the Allegheny County Schools Health Insurance Consortium.

“I don’t see any way that they would reduce it,” Jeff Kline, director of administrative services/

transportation, said. “They’re pointing to a lot of things, such as depletion of their reserves, not raising their rates previously when the trend showed that they might have to, et cetera.”

He said that some of the consortium’s trustees learned about Hampton’s concerns and have offered to address them at a school board meeting.

Also contributing to the expenditure side is a 22% increase in special education, including costs of student placement in outside the school district.

“We’re very careful about that, but we also recognize that there are some students who need specialized services beyond what we can provide. And we work with our families to be sure those placements are the right ones,” Loughead said. “But this is a trend that we’re seeing in our region, students with more special needs, more complicated needs and schools that we have in our region that can address them.”

Hampton’s proposed budget projects increases of 3.5% in subsidies from the state for basic and special education. The number is predicated on what legislators adopt as part of Pennsylvania’s 2023-24 budget, leading to a large degree of uncertainty as school districts prepare their own spending plans.

“The proposed budget from the governor is about a 7.5% increase for public schools,” Loughead said. “We’re going to continue to watch that very carefully with our local legislators to see what might be possible there on the revenue side.”