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Warren School Board Caps Tax Increases

WARREN, Pa. — The Warren County School District board of directors may not hold the line on taxes this year, but there is now a line that it may not cross.

The board met Monday for its annual reorganization as well as a regular meeting.

After reappointing President Donna Zariczny and Vice President Arthur Stewart as officers, the board unanimously approved a motion to not increase taxes above the state-generated index of 1.92 mills.

Board member Tom Knapp had the index item removed from the consent agenda for discussion.

“I pulled this because I got to thinking about it and this severely limits anything we can do,” Knapp said. “I’m not sure that’s the direction we want to go. I’d like somebody to convince me.”

Pledging not to exceed the index gives districts much more time to establish budgets. The timing is accelerated for districts that opt against the pledge.

Solicitor Chris Byham explained that the district would have to have a preliminary budget in place by Jan. 20 if the board were to retain the right to raise taxes above the index.

Stewart said he would not like to raise taxes to the index. “It would be hard to raise the tax any amount,” he said. For more than two mills his vote would be a “a definitive ‘no’.”

“If there’s no way we would approve (more than) a two-mill increase… we would be putting administration through a heck of a lot of work… if we were never going to go that way anyway,” Zariczny said.

During a recent look at the budget, Director of Business Services Jim Grosch said the district’s deficit could reach $25 million over five years, largely based on dramatic increases to state-mandated pension contributions.

Stewart said the board has “saved a lot of money” knowing that the pension contributions would cost millions. While $10 million would not cover the entire projected deficit, he said that savings would allow the district to “weather the storm” without the need for an immediate, large tax increase.

Board member John Anderson also spoke in favor of the motion. “It makes it easy for us to not even talk about raising taxes above that limit,” he said. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing, either.”

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