Tax Increase Proposed for Haverford School District Budget

A 2.49 percent property tax increase is being considered as part of the proposed preliminary 2012-2013 budget for Haverford School District, the district’s business manager said.

Richard Henderson, business manager for Haverford School District, presented the preliminary budget to the Haverford Township Board of School Directors on Thursday night.

Act 1 requires that the school board adopt a preliminary budget and make it available for public inspection earlier than usual because it is a presidential election year, Henderson said.

The board plans to adopt the preliminary budget on Jan. 19 and the budget proposal is available for public viewing on the school district’s web site, Henderson said.

As part of the preliminary budget, Henderson said he is proposing a 26.6689 millage rate for the 2012-2013 school year, which is a , when the millage rate was 26.0209.

Estimates for the preliminary budget show a beginning fund balance of approximately $2.4 million and total revenues of about $91.8 million, although this assumes that the district will receive level funding from the state, Henderson said.

School Board President Denis Gray said he wanted to put the numbers in perspective for the public.

Gray asked Henderson if it was correct that the state gives the district about 10 percent of the funding for the district budget.

Henderson said the state gives the district about 12 to 13 percent of its funding.

“A lot more money leaves this community for Harrisburg and very little of it comes back,” Gray said.

Estimated expenditures for 2012-2013 are $93.7 million, Henderson said.

With the beginning fund balance plus revenues totaling $94.2 million, less $93.7 million in expenditures, the ending funding balance is projected to be $548,530, Henderson said.

However, some unknown variables could result in changes to the budget proposal.

School Board member Larry Feinberg said there is a problem with the school board’s Jan. 19 adoption date of the preliminary budget: the governor does not plan to make his state budget proposal until Feb. 7. 

This means the district does not know if the governor will propose budget cuts or level funding.

And Superintendent William Keilbaugh said the archdiocese was scheduled to make public on Friday how many parochial schools it plans to close.

That will present Haverford School District with an unknown factor for a number of months, in terms of how much enrollment might increase next year and how that would impact the budget, Keilbaugh said.