Shenandoah Valley adopts proposed budget

Apr. 25--SHENANDOAH -- Real estate taxes are expected to remain the same for the 2020-21 school year with the Shenandoah Valley school board tentatively adopting the general operating budget Wednesday.

The school board held its regular monthly meeting through the Zoom meeting app with board members and administration attending from their homes. Seven of the nine board members were in attendance, with President Daniel Salvadore chairing the meeting.

The tax rate will remain at 56.975 mills in the next fiscal year. Each mill brings in about $68,643.

The proposed budget, which must be formally adopted before June 30, totals $19,003,893 in expenditures, which is an increase of $74,419 from the $18,929,474 in the 2019-20 budget. Total estimated revenues for next year is $17,371,655, down from $18,315,904 in the 2019-20 budget, showing a decrease of $944,250 in revenue.

Due to the estimated reduction in revenue, the tentative budget has a deficit of $1,632,238, which will be made up using the general fund balance of $3,475,158.

"That's a really big deficit," Business Manager Anthony P. Demalis Jr. said. "It's really a revenue issue. I attended a PASBO (Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials) webinar and they're anticipating state revenues for 2020 to be down 12%. With Act 13, we're guaranteed our subsidies for 2020, but that doesn't mean we're going to get them for 2021. So what I did was assume that the amount that they gave for special education and basic education subsidies would be reduced by 12%, and, between the two of them, it's almost a million dollars drop. I applied that 12% reduction."

He also said, "I'm also anticipating a drop in the earned income tax revenue. The webinar said the decrease could be between 10% to 25%. I made the assumption at 25%. That's almost a $100,000 drop in revenue there. And our interest rate is almost 0%. The rate is really low."

Due to the schools being closed, the district is saving on substitute teacher salaries, which is between $4,000 and $5,000 per week. There are also savings on supplies, utilities and on fuel for school buses.

"What we're going to lose in revenue is going to eat up more than what we're saving," Demalis said.

As for keeping the property tax millage the same, Demalis said, "We probably should be considering an increase, but with everything that's going on, it's just not the time right now. We have a pretty good fund balance, so we can take a hit this year. I think I'm pretty conservative as the revenue side goes. Hopefully it won't be that bad."

Other scheduled taxes show no changes from the current fiscal year. Taxes marked as "shared" are divided for distribution, with 50% to the school district and the remainder to the school district's municipalities (Shenandoah and West Mahanoy Township).

--Earned income tax (Act 511): 1% (shared). Levied on salaries, wages, commissions and other compensation.

--Realty transfer tax (Act 511): 1% (shared).

--Per capita tax: $5 (As per Section 579).

--Per capita tax: $5 (As per Section 511).

--Local services tax: $5.

--Occupational assessment: $50 (As per Section 579).

--Five percent tax upon gross of any person/entity engaging in culm processing business.

--Ash disposal fee of $5 per ton for any cogeneration facility, person, persons or other entity engaging in the activity in the school district.

Contact the writer: [email protected]; 570-628-6023

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