Trinity approves $52.5 million preliminary budget

Trinity Area School Board Thursday unanimously approved a $52.5 million preliminary budget for the 2016-17 school year that calls for an 8.335 increase in the millage rate.
If the preliminary budget remains unchanged, the tax rate would increase from 113 mills to 121.335 mills when the final budget is adopted in June.
“I cannot emphasize enough that this is a preliminary budget, and the objective was to provide an honest assessment of a worst-case scenario,” David Roussos, director of fiscal services, said. “I’m not telling you this is what we’re going to need. This is giving us the greatest possible range to work with.”
The proposed budget reflects roughly a $2.6-million increase in expenditures over the current budget, and $1.2 million of that is a state-mandated increase in the district’s PSERS contribution.
Under the Act 1 index, Trinity could increase the current millage by a maximum of 2.9 percent, or approximately 3.277 mills.
A mill generates about $216,000.
Said director Gregory Rudman, “I understand this is just a starting point, but I think we really need to sharpen our pencils. We’ve asked for a lot of cuts in our employees and freezes and everything else, and I don’t think that we should be trying to go for any lengthy and large increases.”
The board has several finance committee meetings scheduled before the June 30 deadline.
Trinity has the third-lowest millage rate in Washington County, Roussos noted.
In other business, Assistant Superintendent Donald Snoke presented an initiative that would enable the district to lease-to-buy 1,070 chromebooks for students in grades 9 through 12 at a cost of approximately $68,000 annually over the next four years. Currently, the district leases 580 chromebooks for ninth- and 10th-graders at a cost of $78,000 a year and students in grades 11 and 12 use textbooks. Snoke recommended the district provide chromebooks for all high school students because of the emphasis on STEAM and STEM learning, noting the chromebooks will enable the district “to be cutting edge as opposed to being reactive.”
The board is expected to vote on the initiative at a February meeting.