The Wallingford Swarthmore School Board is coming closer to the final approval of the district budget for the fiscal year 2013-2014. In February the board approved a preliminary spending proposal, and the third and last vote on the plan, is currently scheduled for May 28.
The district’s $68.2 million budget plan at present calls for a 2 percent tax increase. For a house assessed at the district median price of $177,000, that hike would translate into an additional $138 in school taxes.
The state Legislature is still working on possible changes that include districts’ contributions toward employee pension costs and state funding, which could alter the final budget plans.
Tax increases are capped at 1.7 percent in 2013-2014 by the state’s Act 1 school tax law, and any increase over that amount must be put to the the voters for approval. The district intends to use a portion of an allowable exemption – involving employee pension expenses – for another 0.3 percent of an increase.
Contributions to the Public School Employee’s Retirement System are slated to increase by 36.9% amounting to $5,424,566 in the coming fiscal year, 26% in 2014-2015, to about $6.9 million; 21.1% in 2015-16, to more than $8.5 million; and then by 9.7% in 2016-2017, to almost $9.5 million.
Wallingford PA Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086
