POTTSTOWN PA -Recent jottings from a reporter’s notebook on the 2010-2011 tentative budget of the Pottsgrove School District, approved Tuesday (May 11, 2010) by the district Board of School Directors:

The Great And Powerful Oz … Sort Of

Business Administrator David Nester, right, talks with Rod Frey of Gilbert Architects.

By no means final, the budget is a quarter-inch thick, has an orange cover, and consists of 26 pages of columns and figures that likely would glaze the eyes of anyone but a certified public accountant.

Luckily, the district has one of those on hand: Business Administrator David Nester, CPA.

Technically, the budget is a product of the directors. They have the legal responsibility and authority to set the rate for real property taxes collected as revenue to pay for the schools’ operations. Because he acts as chief executive officer of what amounts to a $57 million publicly funded business, district Superintendent Dr. Bradley Landis is responsible for ensuring those operations stay within, or hopefully under, budget.

When money-related questions arise, though; or when the board seeks financial guidance, or when – as they have been this year – directors are heavily pressured to lower operating costs and find new efficiencies, it usually is to Nester that everyone turns.

Board members uniformly agree he knows his numbers, tends to be conservative, is detail-oriented, makes difficult concepts understood to laymen like themselves, and has a long institutional memory. During meetings it’s common to hear someone at the board table ask Nester, “What do you think?”

The document Nester and his staff created, and which the board unanimously accepted Tuesday, must be available for public review for a period of 30 days. It remains subject to change through that period and up until final adoption in June.

It was an item in hot demand. A stack that had been printed and left on a counter in the high school cafeteria where board members met was gone by night’s end. Copies are available at the district office, 1301 Kauffman Rd., Pottstown PA; as well as online, probably here and probably by today (May 13).

Depleting The Piggy Bank

Almost all municipal entities have some form of savings account, collectively known as a “fund balance.” By July 1 (2010), after the current school year ends, Nester estimates (Budget Summary Page 1) the district fund balance will total $9,006,920, more than $969,000 than was expected when the 2009-2010 budget was approved.

To balance the books for the coming year, however, district savings will be drawn down by $6,175,000. The remaining savings, totaling $2,837,383, represents 4.94 percent of the district’s $57 million operating cost. It’s also 39 percent lower than the fund balance on hand when the books closed last year.

Don’t Blame The Township, The Township Says

Based on a total tax rate of 34.4 mills, the district intends to collect roughly $19.7 million in taxes from Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township property owners next year, as well as $8.3 million from those in Upper Pottsgrove and $5.4 million from those in West Pottsgrove (Budget Summary Page 2).

Inevitably, though, when the school tax bills go out under the name of each township’s treasurer and tax collector, municipal office phones ring off the hook. Township officials often get blamed for what the school board did. Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ President Jonathan Spadt last week (May 3) declared he’s tired of it.

A typical township tax bill is about four times smaller than a school tax bill. With Pottsgrove’s budget struggles making regular headlines, Spadt took an opportunity during the commissioners’ last meeting to point his finger. “The bulk of local taxes imposed on property owners have nothing to do with this township or this board,” he noted.

Expect that to be a common theme over the summer.

Pottsgrove, Like You, Earns Less On Its Money

During the 2008-2009 school year, the district earned about $418,000 on its investments (Budget Summary Page 3). But as interest rates for almost all savings vehicles have fallen through the floor (seen your retirement portfolio lately?), and with fewer savings to collect interest on, the district next year expects to earn only $175,000 from investments.

Digging For The ‘People’ Cost

Nowhere in the budget is an aggregation of how much the district will pay in total for its employees’ salaries and benefits. Instead, its expenditure sheets (Budget Pages 6-26) contain more than 60 different line items labeled “salaries” (Category 100) or “benefits” (Category 200) that must be added to reach a final number on either or both.

Like all businesses, the district’s highest expense is its people. For what is labeled as Department 1100 (Regular Programs) – the general teaching and support staff – alone, the district next year expects to spend about $14.4 million in salaries and a third more, $5.1 million, in benefits.

Only a few dozen more line items to go …

Related (to the Pottsgrove Board of School Directors’ May 11 meeting):

• Notebook Worthy (School Budget Edition)
• 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?

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of May 3):

• Notebook Worthy (School Budget Edition)
• Township Explores Seizing North Charlotte Property
• Grading Plan May Leave Gap In Sanatoga Land
• Higher Town Tax Collections Come At A Heavy Price

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