Franklin Regional looks at proposed 2023-'24 budget with 2 mill tax hike

The Franklin Regional school board will take a final vote next month on a 2023-24 budget that calls for a 2-mill tax hike.

The $66.4 million proposed budget, adopted at the board’s meeting this week, has a roughly $412,000 deficit.

In the past few years, district officials have offset budget gaps using money earmarked to fund annual state-mandated increases in teacher retirement contributions, as well as to phase in debt service related to recent construction and renovations at the former Sloan Elementary campus.

The proposed millage hike would bring the district’s property tax rate to 108.36 mills, a 20.68-mill increase over the past decade. It is less than half of the allowable millage increase (4.36) under the state’s Act 1 index, and it is the district’s smallest tax hike since the 2016-’17 school year.

A mill is expected to generate about $355,000.

Significant budget increases include:

• $278,000 in additional special education funding, owing to increased outside placement enrollment and tuition costs, and an increased need for occupational and physical therapy services.

“We have more students who require outside placement, and the cost of that placement has been increasing,” business director Jon Perry said.

• A 10% increase in health care premiums through the district’s health care consortium.

Perry said it is the largest increase he’s seen in recent years. “That’s really just for them to keep up,” he said. “The inflation costs they’re seeing are outpacing what you typically see for general inflation.”

• A projected $310,000 increase in electricity and natural gas costs.

On the revenue side, the district’s investment earnings increased by more than $580,000, and Gov. Josh Shapiro’s first budget proposal includes an additional $671 million for education statewide.

Perry said the district was able to bypass the preliminary budget process because they don’t plan to raise taxes beyond the Act 1 index.

The school board unanimously adopted the proposed budget; school directors Ed Mittereder and Traci Eshelman Ramey were not present. The board will vote on the final budget at its June 19 meeting.