Wallingford Swarthmore School District News

Commissioners Address Copples Lane Pedestrian Safety Issues

November 13, 2012 by admin

Copples Lane - Pedestrian Safety Issues - Wallingford PA - Wallingford PA Real Estate

Nether Providence Commissioners Seek To Improve Pedestrian Safety On Copples Lane

Nether Providence Township Board of Commissioners have asked the Wallingford Swarthmore School District to make enhancements to a section of Copples adjacent to the lower parking lot. The request was part of the board’s final review of items of the completed Strath Haven Middle School renovation and expansion.

The school district agreed and installed a new 4-foot-wide asphalt path running from Smithfield Road to a lot entrance and curbing, as well as a white strip to call motorists’ attention to the need to proceed carefully.

Township officials said they would install in-road, glow-in-the-dark traffic markers along an on-street walkway stretching the length of Copples Lane. The walkway on the busy connector street is used by students and residents, but visibility can be a challenge, particularly at night.

At the Nether Providence Township Board Of Commissioners meeting on November 8, the commissioners voted 7-0 to use $3,373 from a $7,268 Delaware Valley Insurance Trust, DVIT, risk-control grant to fund the purchase of the devices.

The DVIT is a regional municipal risk sharing pool providing property and liability coverage to its participating members, which includes Nether Providence Township.

Wallingford Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086

WSSD School Board Approves 2 Percent Tax Hike

June 26, 2012 by admin

In it’s June meeting The Wallingford Swarthmore School District School Board approved the 2012-2013 budget of $67 million which calls for a 2% hike in school taxes.

For a home assessed at the district’s median price of $177,000, this increase translates into an additional $135 in school taxes, for a total tax bill of $6,887.

The millage rate will be 38.915 for Nether Providence and Rose Valley property owners and 39.334 for those who live in Swarthmore and Rutledge. The difference is attributable to the two latter towns contributing funding to Delaware County Community College.

Payments into the state Public School Employees’ Retirement System account for a hike of $615,365 to $3.9 million.

Looking at districts surrounding us – Ridley School District approved a 3.79% tax hike to fund it’s $93 million budget, Rose Tree Media will hike school taxes 1.7% on a budget of $80.3 million, and Springfield residents are looking at a 2.7% increase for their $65 million school budget.

Wallingford Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086

Proposed School Budget Calls For 2% Tax Hike

May 10, 2012 by admin

Future pension contributions have raised concerns from Wallingford-Swarthmore School District officials that projected pension expenses are set to soar in the next several years, and a record of modest tax increases is at risk.

The 2012-13 spending plan, which contains expenditures of about $67 million and will be up for a final vote on June 11, calls for a 2 percent school tax increase.

That amount is achievable because the district will, for the first time in four years, make use of two state-allowed spending exceptions. By staying within its state Act 1 tax cap for 2012-13, the district does not need to seek voter approval.

Taxpayers are footing the bill for market losses incurred by District Business state Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS). For 2012-13, there will be a net hike of $615,365, for a total bill of more than $3.9 million in district payments to PSERS.

Little relief is on the horizon with a 35.5 percent increase expected in 2013-14, to a total of more than $5.5 million; close to 27 percent in 2014-15, to more than $7.2 million; more than 20 percent in 2015-16, to more than $8.9 million; and then, after leveling off at 2.7 percent in 2016-17, to more than $9.4 million.

The district receives 80.1% of it’s revenue from local tax sources, 17% from Pennsylvania, and .06% of funding from Federal sources. For the year 2012-2013, approximately 1.5 million of the 8 million dollar budget reserve will be used to fund the budget.

If the proposed tax increase of 2 percent is approved, a property owner with a home assessed at the district median of $177,000 would experience an additional $135 in school taxes in 2012-13, for a total of $6,887.

Wallingford Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086

School Board To Submit Nether Providence Elementary Renovation Plans

May 6, 2012 by admin

: Nether Providence Elementary School

The Nether Providence Elementary renovation project is the last piece of a systematic upgrading of district schools that began with Strath Haven High School in the 1990s, then moved on to Swarthmore-Rutledge Elementary School, Strath Haven Middle School and Wallingford Elementary School.

The Wallingford-Swarthmore School Board has signed off on the basic outlines for the Nether Providence school project and has voted 9-0 in favor of the submission of the renovation plans to the state Department of Education after hearing details of the preliminary design. The renovation and expansion of the school located on Moore Road is expected to cost about $16.5 million. The goal is to but the project out for bid in January 2012.

The school currently consists of three wings, one built in 1939, another in 1949 and the third in 1964, Under the latest proposal, the 1939 wing would be torn down and the other wings would be renovated. In addition, a new wing holding a gym/cafeteria would be constructed at the back of the present structure, in an area currently home to parking. The addition would run parallel to Moore Road.

As is the case with a Wallingford Elementary School overhaul currently under way, the new addition would be built first, and conclude with the demolition of the 1939 wing.

Wallingford Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086

George King Stadium Field Getting Artifical Surface

March 7, 2012 by admin

Wallingford Real Estate - Strath Haven Middle School - Geoge King Field - Wallingford Swarthmore School District

George L. King Field

The Wallingford Swarthmore School District has approved the installation of an all-weather playing surface on George King Field located behind the Strath Haven Middle School.

Last year’s private fundraising efforts to fund the installation fell short, but the District announced in early February that $500,000 had been identified as available for the project. The money was left over from completed renovations of the high school and middle school. These funds had been earmarked for field improvements, but never utilized.

The School Board went on record saying they were willing to allocate the funds for the project with the provision that the fundraising group – Team Up For Turf – commit to raising the remaining $200,000 necessary to complete the project by June 30, 2012.

Funds remaining from the Wallingford Elementary School renovation and expansion would be utilized to regrade and sod the softball and football practice fields. The cost of this work will be capped at $200,000.

Wallingford Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086

« Previous Page

S. Clark Kendus