Jeannette schools taxes likely to remain steady

There will not be a millage increase for the 2024-25 school year for Jeannette City School District property taxpayers, but one could be on the horizon.

Superintendent Matt Jones asked school directors to start thinking about raising property taxes for the 2025-26 school year. The value of properties in Jeannette has been dropping for several years, and Jones said that if the district keeps the millage rate steady, it will continue to receive less money through real estate taxes.

“As that assessed value goes down, that’s money that we will have to get back and if we don’t think in terms of at least leveling that off for us, those real estate taxes, we’re going to put ourselves into a situation where we’re going to have to draw too much out of the fund balance,” he said. “We can only absorb that so long.”

School directors on Monday unanimously approved a tentative version of the $24 million budget. Business manager Patricia Dellinger told board members that the proposed spending plan has a deficit of $614,620 that would be covered by the district’s fund balance, which sits at around $6 million. She and Jones cautioned the group that the numbers are preliminary while they wait to hear what the district will receive in state funding.

“We’ll still be doing some review for those numbers,” she said. “There’s information that is still not concrete regarding funding.”

A new teacher contract goes into effect during the upcoming school year and additional costs related to salaries and benefits contributed, in part, to the deficit, Dellinger said. The contract, approved last year, hikes starting salaries for teachers in an effort to compete with neighboring districts.

Also contributing to the deficit was a 12% increase in medical benefits.

“In my time, that’s the highest that we’ve ever seen,” Jones said.

He is hopeful that the assessed property value will level off and increase with continued development in Jeannette. But until that happens, the district will need to find a way to bring in more money while costs for everything are on the rise, he said.

“Small incremental changes are much better than a one-time large millage increase,” he said.

A final vote on the budget is scheduled for June 17.