Central Greene rejects budget proposal

WAYNESBURG – It’s back to the drawing board for Central Greene administrators who will spend the next week preparing a new budget proposal after the school board rejected a proposed budget during its Tuesday night meeting.
That proposal would have increased property taxes by 1.2608 mills, making the total taxrate 28.6537 mills.
Board member Kevin Barnhart made a motion to adopt the 2017-18 proposed budget with the tax increase, although he and John Jacobs were the only board members to vote in favor of it.
The rejected budget proposal would have cost the owner of a home assessed at $50,000 an additional $63.04 annually. The anticipated expenses under that proposed budget were at $34.3 million, with anticipated revenues at $33.86 million.
The tax increase would have been 0.4117 mills above the inflationary index of 3.1 percent of the total millage, which the board received permission from the state to go above in January when it passed its first preliminary budget.
The board raised taxes by 1.2885 mills last year when it was unclear whether the district would receive any of the $3.4 million in property taxes owed by Alpha Natural Resources, which declared bankruptcy in 2015.
Superintendent Brian Uplinger said the district has since received 2016-17 taxes from Alpha and expects to receive the 2015-16 allotment this month.
Uplinger said the board’s decision Tuesday night could mean cuts to the district. He said he will be meeting with district administrators to see where cuts may be feasible.
The board scheduled a special meeting for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, when it will try again to approve a proposed budget. They have until the end of May approve that, as they are required to advertise the budget proposal for 30 days before its final approval deadline of June 30.