U-CF OKs preliminary budget

Posted by Rich Schwartzman on February 14, 2023

Directors for the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District accepted the proposed preliminary budget for the next school year during their Feb. 13 work session. The vote was 7-0. The final budget will be voted on in June.

As it stands currently, the budget anticipates revenue at slightly more than $109 million. That figure includes more than $8.5 million from the unreserved fund balance, $81.4 million from local sources, $18.45 million from the state, and $636 from the federal government.

Of the more than $81 million from local sources, almost $77 million comes from current, interim, and public utility real estate taxes. Local millage rates are estimated to be 32.34 mils for Chester County property owners and 16.93 mils for property owners in Chadds Ford Township, the only Delaware County municipality in the district. Those rates reflect a tax increase of more than 5 percent for both counties, 5.23 percent in Chester County and 5.95 percent in Delaware County. (A mil is a tax of $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value.)

On the expense side of the ledger, the budget reflects anticipated expenditures of $102.35 million. Of that, $55.6 million is for instruction, $31.2 million for support services, $2.4 million for non-instructional services, and $10.1 million for other expenditures and financing issues. A breakdown of the budget may be found here.

Those numbers will change before the final budget is adopted. The district will need to know what it can actually expect from the state once the legislature approves Pennsylvania’s budget, expected in March. There will be further discussion on the budget in April and the district has a budget hearing planned for May 1. The proposed final budget will be voted on during the district’s May 15 meeting and the final budget vote is scheduled for June. 19.

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.