New Kensington-Arnold School District's proposed 2023-24 budget contains no tax hike

New Kensington-Arnold School District property owners won’t pay more in real estate taxes as a result of next school year’s budget.

The school board voted, 7-0, Tuesday night to pass a preliminary budget for the 2023-24 school year that includes no tax increase. Board members Eric Doutt and Jane Graham were absent.

Business Manager Jeffrey McVey said one of the reasons a tax increase was not necessary is that the state gave the district $1.2 million more than what was budgeted for the current school year.

There are no program or staffing cuts proposed. The district’s tax millage would remain 96.14 mills if formally approved next month.

Projected revenues are listed at about $49.3 million and expenses at about $48.87 million. That leaves a surplus of about $424,000.

McVey said district officials won’t have the final numbers from the state for 2023-24 subsidies before the district’s final budget adoption June 6.

The district raised taxes 5% for this year’s spending plan.

“I think it’s been a lot of hard work (on the budget) from our administrators, our superintendent (Chris Sefcheck) and, probably most of all, Mr. McVey is fantastic at what he does,” said board member Nicholas DiCarolis, chair of the board’s finance committee.

“I think we’ve had to work pretty hard to be conservative in the way we’ve been spending money over the last several years to get to the surplus we’re currently at. Luckily, we’re in a position where we don’t have to raise taxes at this point and still keep all those programs (and) keep our staff members.”

DiCarolis highlighted the addition of several new courses at the high school, hiring new guidance counselors and scheduling capital projects such as the remodeling of the planetarium and auditorium.

“There’s a lot of good things going on around the district,” he said. “All those things cost a lot of money. I don’t know if we’re in a fantastic position, but we’re in a much better position than we were a couple years ago to make sure our kids can be successful.”

Sefcheck does not anticipate major changes to the proposed budget before its June adoption. He echoed DiCarolis’ comments about McVey.

“Our business manager is one of the best business managers in the business,” Sefcheck said. “His acumen for predicting costs and necessary resources to support the direction of the district is impeccable.

“We made sure every decision we made is fiscally responsible and matches the goals and vision of the district. Mr. McVey is the one that pulled it all together and made it happen.”

Projected income includes $9.12 million in real estate taxes, $28.05 million from state sources and $8.54 million in federal sources — including more than $6.13 million in covid-19 pandemic relief funds.

Projected expenses include $27.69 million for instruction; $11.6 million for instructional support services; $4.78 million for facilities, construction and improvement services; $4.16 million for debt service; and $642,000 for student activities and community services.

The proposed budget will be available for public review starting Thursday.

In other financial matters

In 7-0 votes, the board approved:

• A $618,910 contract with Northern Westmoreland Career & Technology Center for the 2023-24 school year.

McVey said any funds not used by the center for New Kensington-Arnold students will be returned to the district. He said costs would be allocated based on average daily membership in the coming school year.

• The fifth and final school year of its contract with The Nutrition Group as the district’s food service management company.

• The Westmoreland Intermediate Unit budget. Those budget figures were unavailable Tuesday night.

• Renewing a 60-month security monitoring agreement with 2Krew Security and Surveillance at a monthly cost of $279.