Pleasant Valley raising taxes Proposed budget has 2-mill increase

The Pleasant Valley School District has proposed a final budget with a 2-mill tax increase for the 2018-2019 school year.

The increase is equivalent to 1.4 percent over the current budget. The total millage for the upcoming school year will be 148.016 mills.

District superintendent David Piperato stressed to the board that there will be no decrease in services and no staff furloughs. The district continues to allow natural attrition and retirement incentives to keep the number of professional staff in line with the decreasing enrollment.

Piperato said he believes that the trend of decreasing enrollment may be leveling off. He added that in order to keep the tax increase down, each administrative department is taking a 10 percent decrease in its budget.

“They are not happy,” Piperato said. “But it is necessary so as not to cut education services.”

District Business Manager Susan Famularo showed the directors a detailed financial presentation that demonstrated where the money collected would be spent and where money would be saved.

“Over the past few years PV has worked hard to contain costs, doing such things as negotiating fair labor contracts, reconfiguring the school district, refinancing bonds, subcontracting transportation, condensing and eliminating bus runs, increasing ACCESS reimbursements, creating the PV Cyber Academy, creating the I.C.E. program, closing three elementary schools, eliminating staff positions, joining purchasing consortiums, and performance contracting, “ Famularo said. “Taking these steps and more have allowed the school district to create a financial situation whereby funds are available to lessen the impact of such dire circumstances as the prolonged uncertainty in state funding that has persisted over the past several years.”

A few outstanding factors could impact the final budget.

The teachers union is currently in the process of collective bargaining and the contract for transportation with First Student has not been approved. State funding is always a concern although Famularo noted that this year the state budget appears to be on schedule.

“The 2-mill increase will mean that the average tax bill will increase $42 to $3,113, based on a home with an average assessed value of $21,031,” Famularo said.

Famularo also said that the state permits the districts to increase taxes up to 3.3 percent per year. The 1.4 percent increase is the first tax increase since the 2011-2012 school year. She said the board and the administration will continue to look for ways to cut costs before the budget is adopted on June 14.