Tax hike proposed for Apollo-Ridge School District residents

Apollo-Ridge School Board recently passed a preliminary budget for next school year proposing a 2.37% increase in real estate taxes for the median district home in Armstrong and Indiana counties.

Although millage increases in each county are different, the percentage increase of what residents would pay in school taxes is about the same because of a tax equalization formula.

Taxes would increase by $34 for the median home in the district assessed at $85,050 in Indiana County, said Deana Turner, business administrator for the district.

The proposed $26.8 million budget for 2022-23 is $10,000 higher than this school year’s budget, she said.

The millage rate increase would be 7% in the district’s Armstrong County communities and a 14.5% in its Indiana County communities.

The board approved a 1.5 mill tax increase May 23, but the increases are different in each county because they have different tax assessment formulas and tax rates. One mill has a different value in each county.

Apollo-Ridge uses a Pennsylvania State Tax Equalization Board calculation, which includes real estate market values and other factors, to determine the school tax rates for residents in each county, Turner said.

One of the significant expenses in next school year’s budget is $942,000 for charter school tuition, she said.

In addition, the district is expecting a 10% increase in health care costs as well as contractual increases in salaries, Turner said.

“The district has worked hard to create a budget that is both fiscally responsible and provides the best programs possible,” Superintendent Matt Curci said.

The school budget is subject to “continued nonfunded mandates from the state and federal level,” he said.

“This budget combines reductions in expenditures for the few areas that we can control while including the overall tax increase of 1.5 mills to offset revenue deficits that we cannot control — in particular, cyber charter school costs.”

The school board will vote on the final budget approval at 6:30 p.m. June 27 in the Apollo-Ridge High School Community Room, 1825 Route 56, in Spring Church, Kiski Township.