Schools

Preliminary 2012-2013 East Penn Budget Raises Taxes

East Penn Board of School Directors approves preliminary 2012-2013 budget by 6-3 vote.

The approved the district’s preliminary 2012-2013 budget at Monday night’s school board meeting by a 6-3 vote, completing the first step in a six-month trek to a final budget in June.

The budget approved last night calls for a 3.2 percent real estate tax increase and is basically a formality at this point. The approval of a preliminary budget this early in the year is required to qualify East Penn for special exceptions that would allow it to exceed its state-imposed 1.7 percent tax increase cap.

The way the state has the budget process set up requires districts like East Penn to ask to go above the cap before the districts really know if they need to exceed the cap and by how much.

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Superintendent of Schools Thomas L. Seidenberger said that everyone should keep in mind that the final budget approved by the board in June will likely look nothing like the one before the board last night.

“This is the proposed preliminary budget,” Seidenberger said. “This is a starting point. I am 99 percent sure that this is not going to be the tax rate at the end of the process. We expect it to be lower when we make our presentation to the board in March.

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“There are so many things we don’t know at this point,” he said. “We will continue to ask the tough questions and come up with recommendations that are educationally sound and fiscally prudent.”

School board member Alan Earnshaw pointed out Monday night's budget approval, although required by law, is almost ludicrous, coming only six months into the current fiscal year. Talking about the 2012-2013 budget down the road when the board has a better picture of what the 2011-2012 revenue and expenses look like would make more sense, he said.

“It’s a law created without any consideration as to the practical matters,” he said “To call this a wild guess is perhaps an oversimplification.”

School board members Julian Stolz, Lynn Donches and Michael Policano voted against the budget.


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