from the bcct:
Districts avoiding referendums
JOHN ANASTASI, staff writer Calkins Media, Inc.
Even in a year in which Bucks and Montgomery County school districts are scrambling to overcome the loss of state funding, none plan to take their budgets before the voters.
The deadlines to add voter referendums to the May primary election ballots have passed and neither county board of elections received a single question from a school district or municipality. School districts that plan to raise taxes above a state index must get voters to approve the increases in a referendum.
"We would've had to have known in February and that was before we knew what the (state) budget projections would be," said Robert Schoch, director of business administration for the North Penn School District.
The state index this year is about 1.4 percent for most school districts. Districts that want to raise taxes above the 1.4 percent threshold must pass preliminary budgets in February and apply for exemptions allowing higher tax rates if the money is needed to cover certain costs, including special education and retirement.
Even if Gov. Tom Corbett had announced the details of his budget before March 8, Schoch said it probably would not have made a difference. Very few Pennsylvania districts - about 10, he estimated - have taken budgets to the voters since 2006, when the state passed Act 1, which included the requirement.
Central Bucks School District Business Administrator David Matyas said his district has worked hard to live within the index in part because officials there have a pretty good idea of what the voters would say if it sought a higher tax increase.
"In the last several years, with a bad economy, there's no way the local community would vote for a tax increase," he said. "So why do that? Why go through the referendum process?"
Instead, Matyas said, the district has tried to cut costs, eliminate spending increases, reduce staffing levels, renegotiate debt and freeze hiring "unless there's an absolute need to fill the position."
"The school district reflects the community," he said. "If we're hurting financially then we know the community is hurting financially."
Central Bucks did not seek exemptions this year, but Schoch said North Penn's exemptions would allow the district to raise taxes by up to 3.4 percent. He added the school board would ultimately decide what the tax increase would be.
Both Schoch and Matyas said they expected more districts to go to referendum in the coming years. Corbett would like to eliminate the exemptions and Matyas suggested that the state index could drop even further in the next few years.
"It's as low now as it's ever been, but it may be lowered further, so we might see more next year," he said.
At the Council Rock School District, school board President Kyle McKessy said the district was working hard under "very challenging circumstances" to minimize the financial burden on taxpayers without unduly impacting the quality of the education it provides.
"The Council Rock Board of School Directors and the Administration is acutely aware of the financial burden facing our community as a result of this distressed economy," she said in a written statement. "Seeking referendum to exceed the Act 1 Index would have added to existing pressures."
John Anastasi can be reached at 215-345-3067 or at janastasi@phillyBurbs.com Follow John on Twitter at twitter.com/buckscountybeat
