{"id":3625,"date":"2011-06-14T09:32:55","date_gmt":"2011-06-14T13:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=3625"},"modified":"2011-06-14T09:32:55","modified_gmt":"2011-06-14T13:32:55","slug":"unionville-tax-increase-rate-less-certain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=3625","title":{"rendered":"Unionville tax increase rate less certain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Board president signals support for higher rate, but it remains unclear whether there are enough votes to go from 1.0% to 1.4%<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span>
\n\"\"<\/a>EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 What had seemed to be a firmly decided tax increase \u2014 1.0% in Chester County \u2014 became just a tad less secure when Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education president Timotha Trigg said Monday that she now felt that a 1.4% increase would better serve the school district in the years to come.<\/p>\n

That means that instead of producing one likely budget scenario for Monday night\u2019s school board meeting, the administration is again being asked to generate somewhere between three and five spending plans \u2014 further complicated by the increasing likelihood that some $820,000 in state funding not currently budgeted is now expected to be restored when the state legislature completes the budget later this month.<\/p>\n

Still, even with Trigg\u2019s move to support a 1.4% increase \u2014 which amounts to about $20 a year in additional taxes for the average Unionville property owner \u2014 it appears likely that at least one more vote will be needed to change the tax rate before next Monday\u2019s school board meeting.<\/p>\n

While it appears that members Jeff Leiser, Holly Manzone and Eileen Bushelow \u2014 all of whom previously backed the 1.4% rate \u2014 will join Trigg, member Jeff Hellrung, who has at various times been on both sides of the tax rate discussion, signaled Monday night he intends to support a 1.0% rate, as did Keith Knauss and Paul Price. Frank Murphy didn\u2019t take a public stance Monday night, but has been consistent in backing the lower rate. Corrine Sweeney, who couldn\u2019t attend Monday\u2019s meeting due to a schedule conflict, previously has supported the lower rate.<\/p>\n

The difference between the two tax rates amounts to about $213,000 in total revenue for the district and while Trigg said she was comfortable with how the 1.0% rate impacted the 2011-12 budget, she said upon further consideration, she had worries about the fiscal hole it might cause in the 2012-13 budget and beyond, as a number of unsustainable one-time cuts \u2014 $150,000 in curriculum and $75,000 from capital reserve in specific \u2014 could not only be repeated, but needed to replenished in coming years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that we\u2019ve been split as a board,\u201d Trigg said. \u201cFrom my vote, I feel comfortable with the 1% for this year, but the more I look at next year, the more I lean toward 1.4%.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to her concerns about the curriculum and capital reserve budgets, she said there were no funds in the budget for school bus replacement \u2014 something that will have to be addressed now that the board opted to keep busing in-house, May 31.<\/p>\n

Robert Cochran, the district\u2019s director of business and operations, said some $190,000 in savings from streamlining the transportation department during the coming fiscal year would be used to replenish the bus fleet, at least to some some extent, allowing that somewhere between $300,000 and $400,000 would need to be spent on new buses.<\/p>\n

Superintendent of Schools Sharon Parker asked for some philosophical guidance from the board \u2014 should the focus be on restoring job cuts and programs, setting funding aside in reserve or a mix? The consensus seemed to be for a mix, but it appears that the administration team will have to put together a number of scenarios \u2014 potentially with both tax rates \u2014 for a final decision, likely but not necessarily at next Monday night\u2019s formal board meeting at Unionville High School. The board has until June 30 to give final approval to the budget and could call a special meeting to finalize the budget.<\/p>\n

Monday night\u2019s meeting is expected to have a fairly thorough discussion of the pros and cons of boosting the tax rate. A preview of the crux of the issue came when Monday night, when the other board members who previously supported the 1.0% increase were quick to note the positive benefits of the $820,000 in state funding that seems likely to be restored to the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a high probability of some $800,000 reappearing,\u201d Knauss, the board\u2019s Finance Committee chair, asked Trigg, \u201cDoes that make you any more comfortable?\u201d<\/p>\n

Trigg indicated that it did not entirely, suggesting that at least some of those funds should be earmarked for future budget years if possible \u2014 plus having a slightly larger budget number would mean a tiny bit more wiggle room under Act 1 in coming years \u2014 especially as legislation continues to move forward that would limit or remove district\u2019s ability to file for exceptions to Act 1 limits.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy priority would be in preserving future budgets,\u201d she said, \u201cand to have a bigger base to work off.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Board president signals support for higher rate, but it remains unclear whether there are enough votes to go from 1.0% to 1.4% By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 What had seemed to be a firmly decided tax increase \u2014 1.0% in Chester County \u2014 became just a tad less secure when Unionville-Chadds Ford […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[113,44,24],"class_list":["post-3625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-2011-budget","tag-school-board","tag-unionville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}