Tax Hike Included in Centennial's Budget

The Centennial School Board of Directors come one step closer to adopting the district's 2013-14 budget Tuesday evening and it includes a tax hike for district homeowners.

The vote was 8-1 in favor of moving forward with the district's $101,158,698 general fund budget, with Board Member Jane Schrader Lynch offering the dissenting vote. 

The budget includes a tax increase from the current rate of 116.07 mills to 118.04 mills. This rate represents a 1.97 mill increase, the maximum rate allowed under Pennsylvania's Act 1 index. 

A mill is equal to a dollar of tax on every $1,000 of assessed property value. Currently, the average home assessment in Centennial is $26,400. A 1.97 mill increase equates to an extra $48.46 in taxes for the average homeowner.

"The overall increase in the budget is all [to cover] PSERS," said Board Member Michael Hartline.

Hartline is referring to the mandatory contributions the district must make into the Public School Employees' Retirement System.

Every year this contribution grows and as Central Penn Business Journal reports the employer contribution rate for PSERS will increase nearly 5 percent for the 2013-14 fiscal year that begins July 1. 

Hartline said in the coming years school districts are going to be forced to make increasingly tough calls, including approving program cuts and/or tax hikes.

Centennial's Chief Financial Officer Christopher Berdnik said a school district's budgeting process is all about choices.

He said the direction he received from the board this year was pretty clear— focus on increased student achievement.  

"A budget is a plan," he said. "And the plan is we are going to ramp up our efforts across the curriculum from K to 12." 

You can take a look at Centennials 2013-14 preliminary final budget in its entirety in the .pdf section of this article. 

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated this was the district's final budget approval. That vote will take place next month.