Property owners in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School
District will see their school taxes go up for the next academic year. How much
of an increase depends on whether the property is in Chester or Delaware
County.

School board members passed the budget by an 8-1 vote, with
Keith Knauss the lone vote against.

This was the same budget that was finalized in May and
posted on the district’s Web site. The 2010-2011 spending plan calls for $70.1
million in appropriations. Millage rates will increase.

Property owners in the Chester County townships of the
district will see their rates increase to 24.26 mills, a 2.88 percent increase.
In Chadds Ford Township—the only Delaware County township in the district— the
new millage rate is 20.83, a 0.73 percent increase.

The millage rates are different because of a state formula.
School District Business Manager Bob Cochran said this happens when a school district
crosses county boundaries and the different counties use different base years
for their assessments.

The Chester County increase represents half of what the
board could have done without the need for a referendum.

A mill is a tax of $1 for every $1,000 in assessed property
value. Assuming an assessment of $250,000, Chester County property owners would
pay an extra $184.62 per year and Delaware County property owners paying an
extra $38.71 above last year.

None of the board members said it was a good budget, but the
best that could be worked out.

Jeff Leiser said opinions on the board ranged from no tax
increase, to a budget reduction, to maximizing the amount of the tax increase.

“After all the deliberation, this seems fair,” he said.

Franki Murphy said the budget was “as low as it could be.”

Knauss, in his dissent, said the budget represented $900,000
more in spending than the last school year, too much of an increase for the
current economy, that spending should have been held steady.

However, Knauss said, “The administration did an excellent
job in seeking cuts and the increase is half of what it could have been.”

Other business
• The school board and the teachers’ union—the Unionville-Chadds Ford Education
Association—continue negotiating the next teachers’ contract. Negotiations are
being kept behind closed doors, something that board member Paul Price thinks
is wrong.

“Nothing is served by keeping people in the dark,” Price
said.

• Patton Middle School received $20,000 through three grants
enabling the school to add a greenhouse to grow the food for the consumer
science classes. The greenhouse would aid students learning more about fresh
foods and ways to prepare them for meals. The grants came from the
Unionville-Chadds Ford Education Foundation, Bentley Systems and from Lowe’s in
Avondale.