The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

July 1, 2009

Sharon School Board raises school taxes by 3.5 percent

By Courtney L. Anderson

SHARON — School property taxes in Sharon are going up 3.5 percent for the 2009-2010 school year.

Sharon school directors Monday voted 6 to 3 to raise real estate taxes to 61.4 mills from 59.4 mills. It will amount to a tax bill that’s about $26 higher for the average homeowner in the city, Superintendent John Sarandrea said.

The two-mill increase will be put toward the elementary building project; the $28 million budget holds the line on expenditures, Sarandrea said.

Board Vice President John Outrakis and members Richard Mancino and Judy Rogers voted against the tax hike.

“Taxes are already too high in Sharon,” Mrs. Rogers said after the meeting. “The elderly can’t afford it.”

Mancino said he voted “no” because the price of everything has gone up recently. He specifically noted the doubling of city sewer bills this year as well as the price of gasoline and other utilities.

The money for all those increases, which may be small individually, is all coming from the same place — the citizens, he said. And most people have not gotten a raise in their income to cover rising costs.

“There’s people that are just struggling right now,” he said.

Outrakis voted for the budget and said that he knew taxes had to go up, but he wanted to make more cuts and not raise them so much.

A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s 1970 market value. One mill brings about $90,000 to the district.

Under Act 1, Sharon homeowners who qualified for a homestead exemption will receive a $227 credit on their tax bill next year, Business Manager Tresa Templeton said.

To balance the budget, which had a shortfall of about $500,000, the district didn’t fill a school resource officer and a maintenance position, Sarandrea said. They also cut teacher requests for funding at the middle-high school by 40 percent.

Sarandrea said the district was able to use federal stimulus money for Title I and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act programs.

The spending plan reflects a 6 percent increase in the state basic education subsidy, though the Legislature has not yet passed its budget.

Since the budget was introduced in May, officials cut $155,000 in instructional spending and $276,000 from the support services budget. They also plan to put about $180,000 from the tax increase into reserve for the building project.

Mrs. Templeton said that they’ve already put aside a little over $1 million for the project, which could cost between $10 million and $30 million, depending on what the board decides to do.

Sarandrea has said that the district will not renovate the aging Case Avenue building and is looking to buy the former Hadley School on Boyd Drive for about $252,000. The district may decide to develop the site for a new elementary school or tear down Case and build there, he has said.

The next public hearing about the elementary school project is at 7 p.m. July 8 in the high school auditorium.

Text Only
Local News