More Work Anticipated For PV Schools Budget

By Joe Zlomek

More Work Anticipated For PV Schools BudgetCOLLEGEVILLE PA – Local and state revenues have risen slightly for the Perkiomen Valley School District under the latest draft of its proposed 2018-2019 budget, the Board of School Directors heard Monday (March 12, 2018) from its business office, but a currently anticipated shortfall of $2.6 million between income and expenses means “more work needs to be done to close the gap.”

Directors have promised the state and public that next year’s district taxes won’t rise by more than 2.8 percent above those levied this year. Given the currently projected deficit, Assistant to the Superintendent for Business Administration Jim Weaver reported, a 3.84-percent tax hike would be needed to balance the books. That likely means additional cost-cutting is ahead, he acknowledged.

Weaver and those tuning the spending plan still have about two months before directors must adopt a preliminary budget.

The board update on the budget status is contained in a district-generated Twitter stream, created Monday in real time by Jessica Lester, its manager of school and community engagement. The stream has been duplicated below by The Post, punctuated by headlines inserted between some Tweets to mark discussion points. It also can be found at the district Twitter account, here.

The agenda for the meeting is available online, here.

Also Monday, as evidenced in the stream, the board:

  • Postponed approval of a donation of sod installed on the high school baseball field. Directors said they wanted more time to determine its condition;
  • Deferred a proposal to change district solicitors until next month. Some board members felt they weren’t fully informed about why a change was desirable. They also learned the current solicitor, Rogers Castor LLC, had inadvertently been omitted from a list of firms receiving requests for proposals for the work;
  • Rejected $400,000 in new capital projects included in the next phase of the district energy savings contract; and
  • Said it would further review a proposed policy under which the district could claim a fee of 20 percent on all donations that represented future maintenance costs. The donation of laptop computers that may later need to be upgraded or repaired was cited as an example.

Ahead on the board calendar, its:

  • Policy Committee is scheduled to meet Monday (March 20) at 6 p.m. in the high school library;
  • Athletic Committee, Wednesday (March 21) at 6:30 p.m., library;
  • Technology Advisory Committee, March 22 at 6 p.m., district office; and a
  • Finance Committee meeting and board work session is scheduled for April 2 (Monday) at 6:30 p.m. in the library.

The meeting’s Twitter stream follows

Student Representatives’ Report

Consent Agenda Approvals

Baseball Field Sod Installation

MCIU Position

Solicitors’ Potential Termination

2018-2019 District Budget Review

Energy Savings Contract

Bills, Education Report, And Personnel

Donation Maintenance Fees

Education Savings Account Vouchers

Public Comment And Adjournment

Photo from Google Images

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