POTTSTOWN PA – Passage of the Pottsgrove School District’s 2012-2013 final general fund budget, with a 2.8-percent tax increase, was the headline-grabbing action last week of the Board of School Directors. Clean-up details also matter in such things, however, and board members attended to a number of those during their June 26 meeting too.

They continued without change what are known as “nuisance taxes” allowed under state Act 511, small revenue generators that can amount to millions of extra dollars; they adopted exclusions that reduce taxes for qualified homestead and farmstead owners; and they designated the district’s official banks and tax collectors.

They also approved – for district secretaries, non-certified school nurses, instructional assistants, building aides, in-school support monitors, student assistants, intervention tutors, and duty aides – budgeted compensation and benefits plan packages that earlier were said to be similar to those awarded to teachers under a new three-year labor contract.

Continued and unchanged taxes were a:

• One-percent tax on earned personal income;
• Per capita tax of $5, levied on all Pottsgrove district residents age 18 or older;
• Real estate transfer tax of 1 percent of a property’s purchase price; and
• Mercantile tax charged to business owners, at a rate of 1 mill to wholesalers and 1-1/2 mills to retailers.

For property owners who apply and qualify, and who own a dwelling in the district that is their permanent home (the homestead exclusion) or who own a farm of 10 or more acres in size (the farmstead exclusion), directors granted maximum property tax reductions of between $17 and $273.

Appointed as depositories, where the district will keep its money:

• Wells Fargo, Citizens, First Niagara, National Penn, TD, and WSFS banks;
• Tri-County Federal Credit Union;
• Pennsylvania Local Government Investment Trust; and
• Pennsylvania School District Liquid Asset Fund.

Named collectors for:

• Local services taxes, H.A. Berkheimer Associates, headquartered in Bangor PA, for Lower and Upper Pottsgrove townships; and Theresa Yost for West Pottsgrove;
• Earned income tax, Berkheimer, at a fee of 1.39 percent;
• Delinquent per capital taxes, Berkheimer, at fees permitted by law;
• Mercantile taxes, Berkheimer, at a fee of 3 percent; and the
• Real estate transfer tax, the Montgomery County (PA) Recorder of Deeds in Norristown, at fees established by law.

In addition, Business Administrator David Nester was authorized to prepare final budget transfers that will close out the 2011-2012 academic year before the district’s finances are audited. Directors are expected to be retroactively approved by October.

Because the board is not scheduled to meet during July, Nester also was authorized to pay bills on its behalf. Those are expected to be retroactively approved during August.

Related (to the Pottsgrove School District 2012-2013 budget):

• Pottsgrove School Board Clean Up Final Budget Details
• Pottsgrove Final Budget Carries 2.8-Percent Tax Hike
• In Pottsgrove Budget, Board Targets 3-Percent Tax Hike
• Pottsgrove Seeks Options In Reducing Next Budget
• Pottsgrove Board Approves $59.32M Tentative Budget
• Tentative Budget Approval On Pottsgrove’s Agenda
• Health Care Law Provisions Add To Pottsgrove Budget
• Pottsgrove Begins Its Deeper Look Into 2012-2013 Budget
• Tax Hike Shows In Preliminary Peek At Pottsgrove Budget
• Pottsgrove Model For Budget Force Gets Earlier Start

Related (to the Pottsgrove Board of School Directors’ June 26 meeting):

• Pottsgrove School Board Clean Up Final Budget Details
• Payments For Ringing Rocks Await A Soccer Field Fix
• Pottsgrove Asks To Study Trail At Buchert Road School
• Pottsgrove Final Budget Carries 2.8-Percent Tax Hike
• Cherico, Veteran ‘Grove Volunteer, Selected As Director