SCRANTON — School property taxes would increase 3.4% for 2020 in a spending plan the Scranton School District must balance by the end of the year.
The tax increase — $45 for a property assessed at $10,000 — still leaves an almost $2.7 million deficit. School directors approved the proposed budget with a 5-0 vote Wednesday night.
Without reserves and vowing not to borrow additional money to balance the budget, district officials now plan to trim expenses in the $168 million spending plan.
“We have to continue the hard work of trying to find savings,” Director Katie Gilmartin said. “We’ll hopefully be able to close that gap.”
Just in the last three years, the board voted to borrow about $30 million to pay for expenses like salaries, textbooks and copier paper — a practice that helped lead the state to place the district in financial recovery earlier this year. The district also depleted other one-time revenue sources, including the health care fund.
School directors have the ability to raise taxes up to 4.63% for 2020, but that would still leave a $2.1 million deficit. The district had originally sought exceptions from the state to raise taxes as high as 6.7%, or a total increase of 9 mills. A mill is a $1 tax for every $1,000 of assessed value. The state only granted the district the ability to levy an additional 6.2 mills, or 4.63%.
With a 3.4% increase — the original increase allowed by the state Act 1 index, taxes would increase 4.5 mills, to a total of 137.6 mills.
The recovery plan approved by the board in August calls for the district to raise taxes to the state Act 1 index, usually about 3.4%, for the next five years. The plan also calls on the district to apply for exceptions from the state to raise taxes higher than the Act 1 index if necessary.
School directors said they want to keep the increase as close to 3.4% as possible.
The proposed budget includes projected revenue of more than $7.2 million in business privilege/mercantile taxes. Although voters approved a referendum this month for the district to move from those taxes to a payroll tax, officials remain undecided whether to do so.
The budget, 71% of which is used to pay employee salaries and benefits, does not provide raises for teachers. In their third year of working under an expired contract, teachers on Wednesday said their colleagues are seeking employment in other districts.
“Morale is at an-all time low,” said Scranton High School teacher Kevin Kays, a union leader. “I don’t know why a young teacher would want to stay in the district at this time. You’re likely to see an exodus.”
Directors Tom Borthwick, Barbara Dixon, Paul Duffy and Bob Lesh were absent Wednesday.
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