As anticipated, Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board directors approved a preliminary budget for the next school year. The vote was 7-0 with two members absent for the Jan. 16 vote.
Director Brian Schartz said the preliminary budget “represents a 5.79 percent increase in total expenditures. Assuming this preliminary level of spending, the historic rate of tax\ collections in state and federal revenues, the adjustments in assessed property values and the changes in market value between Delaware and Chester counties, the resulting millage rates for Chester County would be 33.17 mils, and for Delaware County would be 18.89 mils.”
Those millage rates represent increases of 3.82 percent for Chester County and 12.98 percent for Delaware County for a weighted average increase of 5.77 percent. 
(A mil is a tax of $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value.)
Appropriations for the 2024-2025 school year are anticipated to be $106,740,156 with revenues expected to be $106,728,061.
Schartz added that this preliminary budget is “intended to be the worst-case scenario, and the final budget and tax rates are subject to significant revisions between now and the end of the process in June.”
He also acknowledged the disparity in tax rates between the two counties.
“This is entirely due to the statutorily mandated process for assessing taxes across county lines,” he said but added he expects developments that would lower the currently anticipated tax increases.
A vote on the final budget for the next academic year is scheduled for June 17.
Also during the Jan. 16 meeting, directors followed up on three other items discussed during last week’s work session. The board approved spending $39,834 for a new tractor for the groundskeepers. The actual cost is $50,834, but trading in two older work vehicles drops the cost of the new tractor by $11,000.
Directors also voted to spend $562,808 for the replacement of playground equipment at Unionville Elementary and to apply for grant monies toward the purchase of electric school buses.
The district is looking to buy five of the electric buses. If the grant application is approved, the district would get $200,000 for each bus. The actual cost for each bus is $350,000 and the district would have to pick up the remainder of that cost.
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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