The Allegheny Valley School Board has approved a preliminary budget with a tax hike of 1.48%.
The revenue generated from the millage increase would go toward a projected $3.2 million budget deficit, though the majority of that deficit would be made up using the district’s fund balance.
The board opted Tuesday to raise the millage rate by 0.315 mills to 21.7049 mills in its preliminary budget. That means a taxpayer who owns property with the median assessed value of $85,900 would pay $1,864 in school taxes. That’s an increase of $27.
Hamsini Rajgopal, the district’s director of finance and business operations, and several board members expressed concerns about state funding and unfunded mandates from Harrisburg.
Facing a state deadline to vote on a budget, however, most of the board seemed content with Rajgopal’s latest iteration.
“The budget is built to help students achieve their maximum potential,” Rajgopal said.
The proposed budget projects about $7.26 million in state funding, which is about $607,000 less than the current budget. From the federal government, the proposed budget projects $335,000, down about $22,250 from the current budget.
With a 1.48% increase, the district projects a little more than $17.7 million in local funding, which is around $77,000 more than the current budget.
That amounts to a total revenue of about $25.3 million.
Total expenditures, however, are projected to be around $28.5 million about $3 million more than the current budget.
Like most school district budgets, the vast majority of the projected expenditures will go toward employee salaries and benefits in addition to paying down debt.
Though the district would fill in the deficit with its fund balance that sits around $22.4 million, Pollino said Allegheny Valley would remain financially stable.
He said this school year’s 2.65% tax hike and the proposed increase for next school year will hopefully avert another increase in the 2026-27 school year.
The board, he said, is always searching for the “best return on investment” in its students, leaving the door open for future program cuts or investments in different educational areas.
“I think that’s one of the luxuries that we’ve had. We’ve been very prudent in how we handle and build our fund balance,” Pollino said. “We’re at a point where we’re going to use up a good bit of that fund balance, which is what is was there for.”
Paula Jean Moretti was the sole board member to vote against the budget. She said she still thinks the budget is “good and healthy,” but the district “could have done better” by limiting some expenditures, especially those related to technology.
“We need to use what we have better,” she said.
The vote to approve a final budget for the 2025-26 school year will take place at the board’s June voting meeting.
