McGuffey unveils proposed budget with tax increase
McGuffey School District officials are recommending an increase in real estate taxes to help balance the budget for the next fiscal year.
McGuffey business administrator Scott Burchill outlined the preliminary budget for 2016-17 during the school board’s monthly meeting Thursday. The plan includes $33.15 million in expenses and projects $31.56 million in revenue.
Burchill said the budget will likely change before the district adopts the final version of the plan.
“We have about a million-and-a-half deficit,” Burchill said, “but don’t get too alarmed. We have a lot of things included in the budget that possibly, or probably, will have to be cut.”
The budget also includes a property tax increase of 3.85 mills – slightly less than the state-set cap on property taxes for the district, which is set at 3.91 mills for next year. The proposed increase would bring school taxes to 130 mills.
If adopted, this increase would mean an additional $96.25 in real estate taxes for the owner of a house valued at $100,000 and assessed at $25,000.
Burchill also said an ongoing impasse between Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-controlled state Legislature over the state budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 makes it difficult to plan for next year.
“So we’re going to talk ’16-’17 budget, but we can’t do that without talking about ’15-’16, since we really don’t have a (state) budget this year,” he said.
School districts in Pennsylvania have until June 30 to complete budgets for next year.