A local school board has scrapped a tax hike, while another will continue to look for ways to balance its budget and avoid a tax increase.
In a surprise move, the Portage Area School Board on Wednesday approved a $10.9 million budget and voted against a 2-mill hike, an increase given a tentative OK in May.
Meanwhile, members of the Northern Cambria school board said Thursday they will continue to examine the proposed $14.4 million budget in hopes of finding enough cuts to avoid a planned 2-mill hike.
The newest member of the Portage board, Tyler Trimbath, who led the charge to keep the taxes un-changed, was elated about the 6-3 vote defeating the increase. The average homeowner would have paid about $40 more per year had the increase passed, according to the Cambria County Tax Assessment Office.
“I’m very pleased. We have a declining student population and many in the district just didn’t want a tax increase,” Trimbath said Thursday.
Recent enrollment has varied by only a couple students each year. But compared with 30 years ago, the overall number of elementary-middle school pupils has been cut in half, Superintendent Andrew Kittell said Thursday.
The 43.5-mill tax rate in the Portage district has remained unchanged for 11 years.
The $75,000 the hike would have generated was needed to cover the state-mandated increase to the employee-pension fund, among other things, district Business Manager Mike Kunko said.
Instead, the board plans to eliminate the post of assistant high school principal and move that person to the elementary school, where the principal is retiring.
“The best thing for the community is no tax increase,” Kittell said.
Board member Eric Gruss, who favored the hike, said the district is delaying the inevitable because eliminating the assistant principal post is a temporary move.
“I think the tax increase was necessary. We’ve run a deficit two years in a row,” he said.
Those deficits have been covered by dipping into the district’s $500,000 to $600,000 budgetary reserve fund, which Gruss views as fiscally unwise.
Meanwhile, the Northern Cambria board will act on its budget on June 27.
Director Donald Kline predicts taxes, last raised in 1992, will remain unchanged.
“I don’t see five votes for the increase,” he said Thursday.
But Director Brian Tibbott isn’t making any predictions. “We’re hoping we can avoid it,” Tibbott said.
One possible cost-saving option is providing early retirement incentives. As many as five teachers may step down, and not all the vacancies may be filled.
Former Director Dolly Sasway said higher taxes are needed to cover costs associated with the unbudgeted hiring of an assistant principal, full-time aides and coaches a few years ago.
“I would say they’re going to have to have a tax increase to stop the bleeding because they are taking money from the fund balance,” Sasway said.
Northern Cambria Superintendent Thomas Estep said a 2-mill increase would go toward repaying debt on the recently approved $13.7-million elementary-middle school renovation.
“I’m recommending a 2-mill tax increase because we chose to do the things which cost more,” he said.
Those additional items are air conditioning of the entire complex at a cost of $600,000 and $440,000 for a new gym.
Local News
Portage schools avoid tax hike
- Local News
-
-
Proposed bill would expand use of traffic-light cameras
Some call it the hand of “big brother,” others are convinced cameras at signal lights would be effective in curbing red-light runners and ultimately saving lives.
-
Minister's trial date set
An issue has been resolved over the report from an examination of a girl allegedly taken by her mother to a Bedford motel to have sex with a traveling minister, clearing the way for a trial.
-
AP: Almost half of new veterans seek disability
America’s newest veterans are filing for disability benefits at a historic rate, claiming to be the most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops the nation has ever seen.
-
Geistown beginning crime watch program
Residents will patrol Geistown streets in the coming weeks as part of a community watch program.
-
Persons of the Week: Nanty Glo vets will remember fallen comrades
Michael Kurtz, Tom Kasecky and Steve Kasecky will be among members of the Loy A. Douglass Post 3489 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Nanty Glo who will be honoring fallen veterans today, Memorial Day.
-
AG candidates face potential conflicts of interest
Both candidates for Pennsylvania attorney general have family ties that could pose a conflict of interest for the one who is elected as the state’s next chief legal officer.
-
Lawmakers: Capitol rallies unpersuasive
Nancy Richey stepped to the podium with a microphone at the Capitol rotunda with the hope that the right people would hear her message.
-
Richland closer to new chief
The search for Richland’s next police chief is winding down.
-
In brief: Thunderstorm downs trees, knocks out power
A late Sunday afternoon thunderstorm brought high winds, hard rain and hail to the Cambria-Somerset region.
- District Deaths May 28, 2012
- More Local News Headlines
-
Beryl Makes Landfall on Florida Coast
UN Blames Syrian Forces for Shelling Houla
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
