Freeport Area School District property taxes to increase between 2.5% and 3%

Homeowners in the Freeport Area School District will pay more in property taxes next school year — either 2.5% or 3%, depending on which county they live in.

The district’s final $36.8 million budget for 2021-22, which a divided school board passed Thursday in a 5-4 vote, includes different tax increases for residents in Buffalo Township, Butler County and in Freeport and South Buffalo, Armstrong County.

In Butler County, taxpayers will pay 3% more next year. The increase brings the tax rate to 154.4 mills.

For those in Armstrong County, a tax increase of 2.5% will raise their millage to 65.9 mills.

The millage rate is different for taxpayers in each county, in part, because the counties held countywide reassessments at different times, decades apart. That means the value of a mill in each county varies greatly. The value of a mill is adjusted each year using a formula that is based on inflation.

“It’s not the increase I was hoping for because school districts run like your own home and your own work,” board President Daniel Lucovich said. “If you don’t get increases, something’s going to suffer down the road.”

The board previously had examined a budget proposal with a higher tax increase. That budget involved a 4.8% tax increase for those in Armstrong County and a 6.1% increase for those in Buffalo Township.

At Thursday’s board meeting, the board considered several budget options ranging from no tax increase for Freeport and South Buffalo residents and a 0.5% increase for Buffalo Township residents to increases of 5.3% in Freeport and South Buffalo and 5.9% in Buffalo Township.

Business Manager Ryan Manzer previously told the Tribune-Review that the district would be contending with several increased expenses next school year, which contributed to the need for a tax hike.

He cited a $352,000 increase in salaries and a $753,000 increase in tuition as major expenses the district would have to cover next academic year. The price of health care will jump by $154,000 next school year, Manzer said.

Freeport Mayor James Swartz implored the school board to vote against a tax hike.

“We have too many people who are on fixed incomes in this school district, and they want to keep their homes,” Swartz said.

School board members were divided on the tax increase, with the budget passing 5-4.

Lucovich voted in favor of the budget, along with Melanie Bollinger, Michael Huth, Gregory Selinger and Adam Toncini.

Christine Davies, John Haven, Richard Hill and Frank Prazenica voted against it.

Davies said she didn’t “find it an appropriate time” to raise taxes after many people faced financial hardships throughout the pandemic.

Haven suggested the district could avoid tax increases by monitoring spending better.

“I don’t think we have an income problem,” he said. “We have an expense problem.”

Prazenica, too, urged board members and district administrators to focus on careful spending more than increased taxes.

“We just want everybody, including all the people here, to tighten up a little bit on the budget, watch expenditures,” he said. “We want to provide adequate funding for everything, but at the same time, we need to try to be more frugal in our operations.”

Lucovich, however, contended that not raising taxes by a higher margin could lead to program cuts down the line.