New Kensington-Arnold includes 5% tax increase in proposed 2022-23 preliminary spending plan

A maximum 5% property tax increase is included in New Kensington-Arnold School District’s $40.9 million proposed preliminary budget for next school year.

School board President Tim Beckes hopes that increase can be reduced before a final budget for 2022-23 is passed in June.

“We hope to not have to do that,” Beckes said. “We have momentum going on things. We don’t want to overburden everybody.”

A 5% tax increase is the highest the district is allowed under the state’s inflation-based limit.

District Business Manager Jeff McVey said that would result in a 4.57-mill tax increase, raising the district’s millage rate from 91.57 mills to 96.14 mills.

For a property assessed at $20,000, that would increase the school property tax bill from about $1,831 to about $1,923. That’s an increase of about $92.

The property tax rate was increased by 3.7%, or 3.3 mills, for the current school year.

The school board will vote on the preliminary budget Feb. 1.

The district is preparing a preliminary budget instead of the board voting to remain within its tax increase limit. Although that usually signals that a district may seek permission from the state to increase taxes beyond its limit without voter approval, Beckes said the district does not intend to do that.

McVey said the district did not qualify for referendum exceptions for the current school year, which he anticipates would be the case again now.

While the board could vote not to raise property taxes by more than its inflation-based limit, McVey said passing a preliminary budget is “more transparent for the community.”

McVey said the district expects to end the current school year with about $2.7 million in reserves. The budget forecasts the district to end the 2022-23 school year with just over $2.8 million.

The 2022-23 budget shows a small surplus, about $127,500, spending about $40.9 million while taking in just short of $41 million.

Compared to the current school year’s budget, spending in the preliminary 2022-23 budget is up by about 2% while revenue is up by about 3.5%.

The district’s debt is projected to decrease by 7.4% from June 30 to June 30, 2023, from about $37.2 million to about $34.5 million.