Schuylkill Haven School Board passes 2023-24 budget without tax increase

May 12—The Schuylkill Haven Area School Board on May 10 passed a $23.9 million 2023-24 budget that does not raise taxes in the district.

The district's tax rate will hold steady at 44.49 mills, meaning a bill of $4,449 for a property valued at $100,000.

Business manager Kimberly Umphrey noted the proposed deficit now sits at $1.7 million when factoring in predictions for state funding.

That funding includes $309,000 in basic education and $109,000 in special education funding.

Umphrey said she chose conservative estimates for state funding based on recommendations from the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials.

She said she didn't include estimates for newly proposed state funding initiatives for school-based mental health or repairs.

Budget revenues also include an additional $250,000 in remaining money from the $53.4 billion Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, a federal COVID-19 relief initiative.

Homestead and farmstead exclusions will remain about the same this year as last year, providing an additional $3.50 in relief per qualifying household.

The spending increase over last year's $22.5 million budget accounts for a rise in spending on salaries and additional personnel, as well as software and technology upgrades in recent years, according to officials.

Last year's budget featured a tax increase of 4.8%, the state maximum, and the district will likely have to raise taxes in the coming years, said Scott Jacoby, board president.

"Unless the governor and the commonwealth come up with pots of gold for education, we're not going to go five years without a tax increase," Jacoby said.

The district's fund balance sits at $5.6 million after subtracting last year's deficit, Umphrey noted.

Jacoby said Schuykill Haven was fortunate to not be among several districts in the area that are on the threshold of not knowing where they will get the money to pass their budgets.

Umphrey said the district will have to be careful not to rely entirely on grants to fund new positions with expenses that will continue when grants expire.

Superintendent Shawn Fitzpatrick noted that strategies like having agreements with other districts to share salary costs of personnel who split their time between the districts allow Schuylkill Haven to cut costs and maintain the services they need.

"Speech and language, occupational therapy, occupations like that where we can share out our folks, that's what's keeping the lights on, quite frankly," Fitzpatrick said.

He noted the district has always found a way to reduce costs every year, but it's getting tougher.

"We're living in an economy that inflationary rates are growing so much that (school staff) can't work for what we hired them at," Fitzpatrick said. "So we're all feeling the pinch ... We've got to make sure that we take care of our people."

In other business, officials said the district is looking into quotes for replacing the water heater for the district pool.

Buildings and Grounds Director Ken Albitz said the quotes came in higher than expected, around $53,000 to $55,000, and the district plans to put the water heater installation out to bid.

Albitz said the difficulty in installing lies in getting a 1,200-pound piece of equipment into place, and the district is looking into alternatives, such as installing several smaller, lighter heater units.

Fitzpatrick noted the district does not have the manpower to install the water heater and will have to outsource the work.

He noted that getting the unit delivered would take at least 10 weeks, meaning a best-case scenario would see the new heater installed around July.

Albitz also addressed a recent leak in the pool, which he said is slated for repairs.