Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board directors Monday voted to accept a proposed final budget that would raise school taxes in Chadds Ford Township by more than 6 percent. Chester County property owners would see an increase of 0.35 percent. Directors will vote on the final budget during their June 18 meeting.
The vote was 8-1, with Director John Murphy, of Pennsbury, casting the lone no vote.
Under the proposed plan — one of several alternatives considered, but the one proposed by the administration — Chadds Ford Township property owners would have their school property taxes go from 23.63 mils to 25.15 mils, a 6.43 percent increase. The Chester County increase is from 28.41 mils to 28.51. The overall weighted increase is 1.56 percent.
Another alternative would have had the board use a portion of this year’s surplus to cap the Delaware County tax increase at 6 percent but actually lower the Chester County rate. Business Manager Bob Cochran said that proposal could have “long-term sustainability issues.” That option failed by a 9-0 vote.
Another option was to use all of the $500,000 surplus so that the Delaware County increase would have been 5.7 percent. That, too, failed, as did a fourth option that would have deferred new borrowing until next year. That fourth option failed by virtue of no one moving to approve it.
As previously reported, the difference in the tax rates between the two counties is based on requirements of the State Tax Equalization Board. Those requirements call for Chadds Ford Township to cover almost 20 percent of the district’s budget. The proposed budget is for $87 million.
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.
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