Jun 26, 2019 4 min read

BELLE VERNON – The Belle Vernon Area School District board of directors voted 8-1 to pass its 2019-20 budget with a tax increase for some residents.

During its monthly meeting Monday, the board released details of the district’s $38.9 million final general fund budget. Taxes for Westmoreland County residents will increase by 2.65 mills while taxes for Fayette County residents will decrease by .26 mills. The increase will generate approximately $365,000 in additional real estate taxes for the district.

Residents of Westmoreland County with a median assessed value of $19,070 ($117,000 market value) will pay $51 more in taxes while residents of Fayette County with median assessed value of $61,225 ($86,000) will pay $16 less in taxes.

District business manager James Dzurica said one county is seeing an increase while the other sees a decrease because the district must rebalance its real estate tax levy in 2019-2020 to comply with Pennsylvania School Code as it relates to districts that lie in more than one county. Assessed values are converted to market values by the State Tax Equalization Board for comparable data to calculate percentage by county. Under that, the real estate tax levy must be in conformity with percentages calculated from the total market values for each county.

Board member Dan Kovatch said the budget represents increased spending of $430,000 (about 1%) over last year’s budget.

“This increase is driven by three primary factors,” Kovatch said. “We must take care of priority infrastructure needs in the district, and we need to buy new security cameras for all of our schools. In addition, we have to address increased PSERS costs as pension plan and post-retirement benefits continue to escalate. Finally, we’re seeing a $75,000 increase in technology equipment costs at all of our schools.”

Kovatch said the board and current administration have been working diligently to exercise greater fiscal discipline.

“Clearly, we are very focused to reposition the district for long-term viability and sustainability by addressing needs of our aging and deteriorating infrastructure,” he said. “Simultaneously, we are engaged and partnering with all of our municipalities to attract new families, students and businesses, while continuing to provide and invest in quality education and extracurricular activities to provide all students with opportunities to grow, develop and prepare for their futures at an affordable cost to all taxpayers, including our residents on fixed incomes.”

Director Gloria Yuschak was the only board member to vote against passing the budget.

“I don’t think we should tax for the maximum this year because we have not gone through what our bond issue would be or how much we want to spend for our bond issue or what facilities have to be fixed or even what is going to be fixed,” she said. “I feel we should have done that ahead of time and taxed the residents for what we really need, rather than at something later on and adding that to the budget.”

Kovatch added that both the state and auditors have recommended that the district maintain a reserve fund level of $2 million – approximately 5% of the district’s annual operating budget.

“Our reserve fund balance stood at approximately $4.5 million at the start of the 2013-14 year but was drawn down to only several hundred thousand dollars under the previous administration,” he said. “Through more prudent budget oversight, the fund balance is projected to be restored to approximately $1.4 million at the end of the current fiscal year, which is a credit to the current administration and elected board of directors. The current board is focused to achieve and sustain the recommended level over the next several years.”

Vice President Joe Grata noted that BVA is not the only local school district that has raised taxes.

“Almost everyone, a large majority, has been required to raise taxes because of what is happening in Harrisburg,” he said. “They aren’t giving public schools the support that is necessary.”