Centennial Budget Includes Tax Hike

Centennial School District officials have released the 2010-11 preliminary budget and it is far from balanced.

For 2010-11, the district's expenses are approximately $967,000 greater than the projected revenues.

At a recent finance committee meeting, board members said the plan to bridge the gap includes imposing a tax increase of 5.04 mills.

Interim Business Administrator William Gretton was quick to explain that the 5.04 mill increase would only fund the budget as it stands. He said it would take an additional 1.8 mils to close the gap and balance the budget.

"967,000 is the number we have to reduce the budget by between now and the time of approval," said Gretton.

He said that even if the board were able to accomplish that feat, the district would still need to raise taxes a minimum of 5 mills to achieve a balanced budget.

A mill is equal to a dollar of tax on every $1,000 of assessed property value. Currently, the average home assessment in Centennial is $26,400. A 5.04 mill increase would equate to an extra $133 in taxes for the average homeowner.

Centennial can raise taxes by 1.52 mills under guidelines imposed by Pennsylvania's Act 1 index. The district would need to apply for an exception from the state to ask for anything over a 1.4 percent increase, or 1.52 mills

However, Act 1 does provide for an exception for grandfathered debt, and the debt incurred by the district's current, ongoing multi-million dollar building projects would qualify.

Gretton said that while the budget is relatively conservative, it may not be truly representative of where the district stands when it comes to state funding.

He said the numbers in the projected budget are based on the level of funding Centennial received from the Commonwealth in 2008-09 and those numbers are "very optimistic," as the incoming administration is not known to have as great a commitment to funding education as the outgoing administration.

The Board will take an in-depth look at the budget during the Feb. 7 finance committee meeting.

In the interim, Gretton invited anyone with questions about the 2010-11 budget to contact his office at 215- 441-6000 ext.3006.