Proposed budget would raise taxes 2.65% in Allegheny Valley School District

The Allegheny Valley School Board has approved a 2024-25 proposed budget that raises real estate taxes by 2.65%.

If the budget gains final approval at the June board meeting, a taxpayer who owns a property with the average assessed value of $85,900 will pay $1,837 in school taxes, an increase of $47.

That does not include the tax credit under the state’s Homestead-Farmstead Exclusion which provides $212 in tax relief deducted from the property tax bill.

However, to be eligible for that, a real estate owner must be either 65 or older, permanently disabled or have a total eligible household income of less than $45,000.

The increase in the tax rate would be 0.552 mills, rising from 20.8377 mills to 21.3899 mills.

“There were two options for the board,” said Hamsini Rajgopal, the district’s finance director. “One was to dip into the reserve fund and the other was the millage increase.”

Rajgopal had advised the board against tapping into the $966,277 unassigned budget surplus to make up for a projected $294,000 budget shortfall. She said it would be more prudent to keep the fund balance intact to help with future capital projects.

Board President Antonio Pollino said that at the planning meeting April 9, nobody voiced objections to the tax increase when weighing those options.

When the proposed budget came to a vote Tuesday, however, Paula Jean Moretti and Nicole Paulovich voted against it. The budget was approved by a 4-2 margin with board members Larry Pollick, Salvatore Conte and Mary Ellen Ecker absent.

“I understand the need, but I feel the budget could be cut more,” Moretti responded when asked about her vote. “Our student population is declining, and we have not cut any programs.”

“I don’t know what could have been cut, but I think somewhere we need to make some changes,” she said.

Said Paulovich: “I promised I would speak for the taxpayers. I think it is a big increase.”

Pollino said the district faces a lot of challenges and finances will be central to meeting them.

Rajgopal said costs for employee health care benefits have gone up by 9%, and there are damages to the roof over the gym caused by an ice storm last winter that need to be fixed, the roof on the old part of the Acmetonia building has to be replaced, and the demolition of Colfax Elementary School has yet to be dealt with.

Pollino also said the district’s insurance costs have gone up by 40%. He noted the district is in the midst of replacing the façade on the ‘D’ wing at the high school, which had pieces falling off, and a needed expansion of restroom facilities near the auditorium.

On top of those needs and rising costs, Rajgopal said the district has experienced a loss of $328,000 in revenue because of assessment appeals.

The $25.8 million proposed budget, an increase of about 4.9% over the current spending plan, does allow for retention of current programs and staff, she said.

“The board didn’t want to cut services,“ Pollino said, which left few options.

“Financially, we are in good shape, but that doesn’t mean you deplete your savings,” he said, noting the district has not had a tax increase since 2018. “What we are looking at here is something manageable.”