POTTSTOWN PA – A tentative Pottsgrove School District budget totaling $57,439,026, which if finally adopted would be accompanied by an average property tax increase of $178 for the 2010-2011 school year, was unanimously approved Tuesday night (May 11, 2010) by the district Board of School Directors.
The proposed tax hike, to a total of 34.40 mills, represents a 4.5-percent annual rise in the amount owners of real estate – many of them families and individuals who own homes – must pay to provide the bulk of the money needed to keep the schools operating.
The district’s average home is valued at $120,000. If the proposed total millage is adopted, the owner of that home would pay $4,128 in district taxes alone on it next year. An employed homeowner who earns an hourly wage of $20 will work 206 hours, or about 5 weeks, to cover that cost.
The percentage increase is exactly the number a majority of directors said two weeks ago they wanted to see from the administration. To get there, officials cut about $735,000 in expenses that included the controversial elimination of two teaching positions. Students and their parents came out in force to the board meeting to protest those cuts.
Because the budget is not yet final, those losses are still considered reversible. “We’ve got a month to sharpen our pencils even further,” board President Michael Neiffer said. “This isn’t yet set in stone.”
The board, however, unanimously and without comment adopted a resolution that furloughed high school French teacher Sophie Alfonsi and district string music teacher William Einhorn, both effective June 30, and ended their jobs.
Related (to the Pottsgrove Board of School Directors’ May 11 meeting):
- Tentative School Budget Adopted, With 4.5% Tax Hike
- Faulkner Named Newest Pottsgrove School Director
- Covering The Pottsgrove School Board Via Twitter
- Will ‘First In’ Guide Choice Of New School Director?
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