The Plum School District’s proposed $74.3 million budget for next school year carrying a 6.2% property tax increase is a step closer to approval.

The school board voted 8-0 Tuesday to approve the district’s proposed budget for 2024-25. Board member Ronald Sakolsky was present at the start of the meeting, but left after student recognitions and before the board voted on the bulk of its agenda, including the budget.

Contacted Wednesday, Sakolsky, a former teacher in the district who was elected to the board in 2021, said he left the meeting for personal matters but declined to elaborate.

“I stayed until the student recognition was over because the students deserved me to be there since many of them were actually past students of mine,” he said. “I felt that leaving at the time the students were done would not make a scene, and I did not expect for it to become one.”

Sakolsky said he made his stance on the budget clear at the board’s discussion meeting the previous week. That included expressing concern about funding for a full-day kindergarten program and asking why the district did not increase property taxes last year, by the 2% he had suggested, to soften the blow this year.

“It was an election year,” he said. “No politician wants to raise taxes in an election year.”

No residents commented on the budget before the board voted.

The school board had opted not to increase property taxes in six of the past 10 years, including the current school year.

While the school board approves a budget and tax rate annually, board President Angela Anderson said the board has discussed targeting incremental increases in the future to avoid years with large increases.

In March, district Business Manager Ryan Manzer presented a projection showing the possibility of the district increasing property taxes each of the next five years to fund its operations, pay for a $30 million building project and pay for the return of a full-day kindergarten program.

The 6.2% increase proposed for 2024-25 includes half of 1% going toward a future building project. It is under the district’s state-imposed inflation limit of 7.1%.

If approved, the owners of a home at the district’s $116,700 median assessed value would see their annual school property tax bill increase by $160, from $2,570 to $2,730.

“Each year, this board must pass a budget which considers the educational and operational needs of the district,” Anderson said. “As indicated in our long-range plan, we understood this year’s budget adoption would be particularly difficult given the expiration of covid-related federal funding of $1.1 million.”

Over recent months, the board has heard from its architects, financial advisers and demographers regarding the condition and capacity of the district’s aging facilities along with associated financial impacts, she said.

“While the size and scope of these improvements are still being defined, we recognize the importance of making the first step in providing a fiscally responsible plan to pay for these improvements,” Anderson said.

The budget does not include additional state revenue proposed by Gov. Josh Shapiro, board member and lead finance liaison Mark Stropkaj said.

“If additional funding is provided from the state for the ’24-’25 tax year, this additional funding will be utilized for capital projects and also to offset future tax increases, which are within our long-term budget,” Stropkaj said.

The budget is available on the district’s website and at the high school library.

The board will hold its next discussion meeting at 7 p.m. May 14 and will vote on adopting the budget during its next action meeting at 7 p.m. May 28. Both meetings will be held in the high school library.

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