Why is it that there is hardly ever a mention about Morrisville when it comes to articles like the one below? We have a $25k a year communications director, who clearly has connections at the BCCT. Why no mention of all the good that is going on under the Hellmann regime? Day after day we see no mention of Morrisville when it comes to area school matters. Thumbs down to P.W.....again!
from the BCCT:
Decisions loom for school budgets
By: JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times
Most local school boards expect to seek special exceptions from the state to boost tax increases to help cover 2010-11 costs.
The squeeze is on for Bucks County school districts as they try to do more with less while framing their 2010-11 budgets.
The majority of Bucks County school districts will be able to raise property taxes 2.9 percent to cover increased expenses next school year without getting voter approval, according to state officials.
The allowable increase for 2010-11 is about 25 percent less than the 4.1 percent allowed by Act 1 - the state's 2006 property tax relief law - during the current school year.
School boards have until Jan. 28 to decide if taxes need to be raised above their districts' respective index. Many local districts are indicating they will need to go above the index by seeking exceptions from the state for certain expenses, including debt service, health care benefits and construction costs.
If those exceptions are approved, a school board would have the option to increase its district's respective index rate accordingly.
For instance, Bensalem officials are looking at whether exceptions can be requested for retirement contributions, special education expenses and revenue maintenance, said Jack Myers, the district's director of business operations.
The exceptions are needed, because, "as always, the district is faced with increased costs it does not control," Myers said. He estimates those uncontrollable costs are in the neighborhood of $7 million for next school year.
Myers is formulating how much those exceptions would add to the district's 2.9 percent index rate, and he'll give Bensalem's board its first look at the 2010-11 projections Wednesday night.
Other local boards, including Centennial and Neshaminy, will get their first looks at the 2010-11 estimated expenses beginning tonight.
Districts that do not have enough revenue to cover anticipate expenses, even with the additional tax revenue, have to ask voters' permission during the May primary to increase taxes further. No local districts have taken the referendum route since Act 1 took effect.
Council Rock doesn't plan to go down that path this year, either, district officials said last week. That district plans to rely on various exceptions to help cover 2010-11 expenses.
Bristol Township is expected to be one of the few area governing bodies to adopt a resolution, as it has in recent years, promising not to raise taxes above the district's 3.7 percent index rate allowed by the state. The board is set to vote on that resolution Jan. 19.
The index for each district is determined by averaging employment cost index data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics with the statewide average weekly wage.
The Bristol Borough School District, at 3.8 percent, has the highest index rate of local school systems. District Business Manager Joseph Roe told Bristol's school board last week that a tax increase might be needed to help cover debt service for the new Warren Snyder-John Girotti Elementary/Middle School.
Roe said he's looking for ways to keep any possible tax increase to a minimum.
