School Board Hears Final Budget Proposal With 1.9% Tax Hike

The Nazareth Area School District budget for 2012-2013 shrank a bit in the administration’s final budget proposal when it comes to a tax increase -- but not by much.

The proposed property tax increase is reduced to 1.9 percent, a slight reduction from the in the preliminary budget, which the Nazareth School Board passed in January.

Here are additional highlights of the budget proposal presented at Monday’s meeting of the school board:

• , but a total of 10 positions, including seven teachers, will not be filled following retirements or departures.

• The budget is balanced: No money will be taken from the district’s fund balance -- roughly equivalent to a personal checking account for an individual. That is a change from the preliminary budget, which proposed using money from the fund balance to equalize projected revenue and expenses.

The board plans to vote next week, on May 21, to approve the budget, which will be in effect from July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013.

Further changes to the budget proposal might not be out of the question, if school board President Lorin Bradley has his way.

Bradley suggested that board members consider “two or three ideas" about potential savings that were floated when the administration presented the budget proposal to the board's audit and finance committee last month.

“If there are two or three moves possible I would like to see about those before our vote next week,” Bradley said. In brief remarks after the meeting, Bradley declined to comment on specifics of the possible savings, saying he does not know all the details.

In other budget-related news: There was no update to the status of negotiations between the district and the unions that represent district employees over potential wage concessions, as requested by the school board.

Superintendent Victor Lesky said The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents the district's custodial workers, has presented the administration .

The Nazareth Area Education Association, which represents the district's teachers, has responded to the district but did not offer a proposal or wage concession, Lesky added.