Line Mountain final budget passed with no tax increase

Justin Strawser, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
·3 min read

May 16—MANDATA — Line Mountain School Board members approved a final budget with no property tax increase for the fifth consecutive year.

At Tuesday night's public meeting, five school board members unanimously approved a final $21.6 million budget for the 2023-24 school year that keeps the millage rate at 79.81 mills. Four board members — Paul Kolody, Michael Bordner, Dennis Erdman and Matthew Shaffer — were absent from the meeting.

"We're in good shape," said Business Administrator Kaitlin Rosselli. "A lot of districts would be happy to be where we're at."

The budget is $21,653,635. Last year, the school board approved a $21,365,480 general fund budget for the 2022-23 school year without a tax increase.

Each mill generates approximately $75,000 in revenue. Taxes are assessed at a rate of $7.981 on each $100 of assessed valuation of property taxes.

The budget was approved with a $257,383 deficit that was filled with money from the fund balance, said Rosselli.

The biggest increases come from salaries at an increase of $218,728 and social security at an increase of $8,296. Retirement expenses went down $58,021, medical/dental went down $9,370 and unemployment expenses went down $8,119.

Rosselli said a business manager traditionally uses the last three to four years to project spending and costs, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made that difficult.

"Clearly that's not possible at this point in time," said Rosselli. "Every year since 2020 has been completely different from each other. There's no rhyme or reason, not anything. Trying to have a crystal ball is tough sometimes, especially with COVID in the mix. We're definitely coming down from the craziness of COVID. Our numbers are finally coming back to where we want them and see them normally."

Superintendent Dave Campbell praised the spending plan.

"It's a good budget," he said. "I think we're pretty safe."

Campbell noted there were a lot of one-time expenses, including new positions and funding for the new STEM lab.

In other business, the school board members approved:

* The purchase of 20 Apple iPads with Logitech Rugged combo cases and a two-year warranty from Apple Education at that unit cost of $412.95 and a total cost of $8,259 for the incoming fifth-grade students.

* The purchase of 115 memory and hard drive upgrade kits for one-to-one high school student laptops through Dell Technologies, of Round Rock, Texas, at a unit cost of $148 for a total of $17,020.

* The reappointment of Diehl, Dluge, Michetti and Michetti as the solicitor for the 2023-24 fiscal year at an hourly rate of $125.

* The extra-curricular transportation contract with Marvin E. Klinger, of Dornsife, through June 30, 2024, at $15.80 per driver hour and $2.36 per mile.

* The day-to-day substitute teacher rate increased from $135 to $145 per day for the upcoming school year.