Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board directors now have a proposed final budget to vote on in June. Property taxes will rise, but not quite as much as anticipated.
Instead of a proposal to bring about a weighted tax increase of 2.85 mills for Chester and Delaware County residents, the increase currently on the table for next month’s vote is 2.01 mills.
That increase would mean Chester County property owners in the district — with property assessed at $260,000 — would pay an extra $126 per year. Chadds Ford Township property owners, the only Delaware County residents in the district, would pay an additional $160 per year.
The specific millage for each county would be 26.92 mills in Chester County, 22.83 mills in Delaware County. (A mill is a tax of $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value.)
After a long discussion with directors’ examining different scenarios, the board came to its decision with a 5-4 vote on Monday, May 11. A final vote on spending and taxes for the 2015-2016 school year will happen during the June 15 meeting at the district office.
To keep the tax increase lower than anticipated, the district will spend $500,000 of its surplus. Total spending next year is expected to be $79.29 million.
There are a number of new expenses in the budget. The board approved spending $2.3 million for renovations to CF Patton Middle School and more than $300,000 for work at Hillendale Elementary School.
Also new for next year is spending more than $150,000 on technology upgrades in the middle and high schools, $300,000 for new school buses, and more than $2 million on curriculum initiatives. Among those is an expense of almost $160,000 for Chromebook tablets for students as part of a pilot program.
There is also a proposed spending increase of up to $300,000 for special education.
The board will also consider for next month’s vote a proposal from Director Robert Sage for a line item of $50,000 to “facilitate teaching excellence.”
He said the money could be used for awards or a banquet and to promote the district at top-level teaching colleges to recruit exceptional teaching prospects.
Several teachers in the audience took exception to the idea, saying that recognizing one teacher over others would be unfair to the other exceptional teachers and that the money would be better spent on teacher salaries.
The district and teachers’ union are still negotiating a new contract.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...
Comments