Schools

Upper St. Clair School Board Approves Proposed Final Budget With No Tax Increase

However, homeowners may see an increase or decrease in taxes due to the Allegheny County reassessments.

The Upper St. Clair School Board unanimously approved a final proposed budget for 2013-14 with no tax increase.

However, homeowners may see a tax increase or decrease due to the Allegheny County property reassessments. The school district is not permitted by law to gain tax dollars from the reassessment process.

The proposed budget has a millage rate of 21.438 and the taxes would be $2,144 for each $100,000 of assessment, resulting in a 16.6 percent reduction from 2012-13.

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The school board had the goal of no tax increase in 2013-14 after raising the tax millage rate by 1.618 last year.

The challenges for the 2013-14 budget, according to Superintendent Patrick O'Toole, include a decline in federal funding. The federal sequestration is projected to decrease district revenues by $462,000.

Find out what's happening in Upper St. Clairwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In addition, the continual state pension increases put stress on the budget. The district must pay an additional $1.4 million for pension costs in 2013-14. The state will reimburse the district for half of the cost.

A high number of staff retirements—15 announced this spring—impact the budget favorably. Administrators are examining ways to not have to replace some of the positions.

New classrooms are planned for Baker Elementary and Boyce Middle schools, however, due to increases in class sizes.

The final proposed budget will be available on the Upper St. Clair School District's website by the end of Tuesday.


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