Even if the board raises property taxes 15.32 mills - the maximum the state is allowing the district - and uses its $1.1 million fund balance, it would still fall about $200,000 short, School Board Vice President Kim Bucari said.
The district had put money aside for what it thought would be a $1.7 million teachers contract settlement. But board President Frank Scavo said the contract will cost $3.4 million over the seven years.
That is, unless the board can successfully appeal a state labor hearing examiner’s ruling that upheld a negotiated seven-year teachers contract that the board later rejected.
The contract, which covers 2003 through 2010, includes 3 percent raises in each of the first three years and 3.5 percent raises in each of the other four years.
Five board members signed the agreement during negotiations last July. The full board later rejected the agreement, claiming not enough teachers had signed on for a preferred provider option health insurance plan.
The teachers union, which had ratified the agreement in the interim, appealed the rejection to the state Labor Relations Board, based on the five board members’ signatures on the original document. A state hearing examiner ruled this month that the signatures amounted to board approval of the contract.
The board tried to place an "informational" referendum question on the May primary election ballot asking voters if they would approve an 18-mill tax increase. The Lackawanna County Board of Elections on Thursday rejected the nonbinding question, saying it was prohibited by state law.
"I’m disappointed they rejected it," Mrs. Bucari said on Friday. "We wanted to put it out there as an informational item for the public to know how much (the contract) would cost."
The board earlier this month approved a proposed 2007-08 budget of $10.9 million and a 6-mill tax hike, but that was before the contract ruling.
Mrs. Bucari said the $200,000 shortfall assumes the board approves increasing the property rate by 15.32 mills, or 15.8 percent. That would increase the tax bill on an average house with an assessment of $12,000 by $184. A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of assessed value.
The current rate is 96.5 mills. Each mill brings in about $43,000 in revenue to the district, so if the board hiked the property tax another 15.32 mills, it would produce about $658,760 in additional revenue.
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