Budget to be focus of New Kensington-Arnold finance committee session
A committee of the New Kensington-Arnold School Board will review the district’s proposed final budget for the 2020-21 school year at a meeting on Monday, according to district business Manager Jeff McVey.
In January, the school board approved a preliminary $38.96 million spending plan that would increase the property tax rate by 7 mills. That’s provided that the state allows the district to raise taxes by more than its inflation limit based on special education costs.
A 7-mill increase would take the district’s tax rate to 92.27 mills, adding about $140 to the school tax bill for a home assessed at $20,000.
The new bill for such a house would be $1,845.40. That’s an increase of 8.2%.
New Kensington-Arnold’s state-imposed limit was set at 3.9%, or 3.32 mills. The district could increase the property tax rate by that much without voter approval at a referendum or without exceptions to avoid a referendum.
The preliminary budget spends more money than the district would take in for the year, even with the tax increase. It would empty its reserves, leaving the district with a projected deficit of about $473,500 at the end of the 2020-21 school year, according to budget information McVey previously presented to the school board.
On Monday, the board’s finance committee “will be reviewing the proposed final budget … among other items,” McVey said.
McVey did not respond to questions as to whether there had been any substantive changes to the pending budget’s spending, income or taxes.
“As the budget is an ongoing process, there are always changes,” he said. “Most of the changes result from adjusting individual line items in the budget to align with actual operations for the current fiscal year.”
The committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. in the board room at Valley High School in New Kensington. The meeting will be open to the public, according to the district.
The next school board meeting is set for 7 p.m. March 24 in the board room at Valley High School.
Brian C. Rittmeyer, a Pittsburgh native and graduate of Penn State University's Schreyer Honors College, has been with the Trib since December 2000. He can be reached at brittmeyer@triblive.com.
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