Photo by James Short.
The good news is that the Wissahickon School District’s Board of Directors has balanced its 2024-25 budget in its most recent proposal. The bad news, at least for local residents, is that it is currently being accomplished thanks to a proposed 5.3% tax increase.
During the March 18 work session, the board voted to approve posting the proposed final budget, which includes an amount of $127,481,141 in spending. The new budget, as it stands, for the upcoming school year includes a tax millage rate of 24.42, which is a 5.30% tax increase to the current school tax millage rate.
Board Member Steve Walker, chairman of the finance committee, said that a committee meeting held a week prior — the second in a series of four — included a “very productive discussion.”
Wade Coleman, the school district’s business administrator, said that this approval for public release is a simple step in a much bigger process.
“Every year, by law, we have to approve a proposed budget,” said Coleman. “We make that available to public inspection in a formal process. We advertise it, and we send it to the schools and to the library, etc.”
The district has hosted Budget Workshops already on Feb. 21 and March 12, with a third set for April 16 (and one May 13, only if required). These workshops are open to the public during finance committee sessions at the District Administration Office at 6:30 p.m.
“It’s a very normal part of the budget process,” said Coleman.
In laws that have not been rewritten since the frequent use of websites, this formal step is almost unnecessary, he said.
“The state rules governing this process are probably a little bit old,” said Coleman. “We’ve had this [proposed budget] posted on our website already for the entire time we’ve discussed the budget. But, there still is this formality that we need to do, and that’s what this is.”
The approval that was passed on March 18 simply released a hard, printed copy to the public for viewing in various locations throughout the district. And, while the tax increase has been shown in the proposed budget for months, Coleman said that changes will still come as the finalized budget takes shape.
“The budget will absolutely change before it is adopted. It almost has to,” he said. “We haven’t been notified by the state of certain final numbers.”
The 5.3% current proposed hike is not set in stone yet, either.
“I know that the board is also interested in reducing the tax rate,” said Coleman. “So, this is very, very much subject to change. But it still does make it, from a formality standpoint, available for public inspection.”
Board members expressed concern that the public understand this is a “proposed” budget, and not “final” despite the name.
“It almost sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?” said Joseph Antonio, Board Vice President. “Proposed final?”
Coleman assured the board that it would be accompanied, when posted for public inspection, with a cover letter stating such, starting the day it is posted, which is April 3.
The board did note that a 5.3% increase, as the current proposal includes, is “the maximum tax increase that we’re allowed under the Act One Index” for a one-year hike.
“We’ve had a few discussions on it so far, and we’re going to have further discussions and budget workshops to work on it some more,” said Antonio. “I think what the budget currently represents is the fact that the district has been growing for the last several years and is continuing to grow.”
Antonio said that the growth has been even more pronounced in the areas of Special Education, or “those that have higher needs.”
“There are a number of initiatives and programs and increased service offerings that the administration and the schools want to see added to our schools,” he said. “All of these things are driving the need to increase our budget, to try to afford, and to build these things into our budget.”
These needs, however, did not decrease the desire of board members to reign in the tax increase.
“That being said, we recognize that 5.3% of a tax increase is pretty large, right?” said Antonio. “Even for me personally, as we continue to discuss and work on the budget, I would like us to try to come up with a final budget that is below five percent.”
To do so, Antonio said it would take some “difficult decisions” about what the board would “bring into the budget” versus what they would need to “reduce or rethink in order to make that work.”
“I want to put it out there as an intention,” said the vice president. “Although it’s listed as a 5.3% tax increase and we expect it to change, I just want to go on the record in saying that at least my intent, personally, is to try to work the budget in a way that ends us up with a tax increase that’s five percent or lower.”
The actual adoption of a final budget will not take place until the board’s June 3.
