Tuesday, May 8, 2012
With a 4.25 percent tax increase, the early retirement incentive, and cuts across the district, Upper Dublin School Board has been presented with a balanced budget for 2012-13.
The Upper Dublin School Board looked at what will be the proposed final budget for the school district on Monday night. Brenda Bray, the district’s Business Administrator, noted that the early retirement incentive savings have not been folded into the budget yet. Thomas Sigafoos, Director of Human Resources, told the board that ten teachers took advantage of the early retirement incentive offered by the district and they expect to need to replace 5.4 of those teachers. The savings just in salaries will be approximately $499,762, according to Sigafoos. A substantial increase in revenue during the 2011-12 school year came from the collection of delinquent real estate taxes, adding over $808,000 to the budget. For the 2012-13 budget, the …
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Revisions to advertising initiative include higher prices and the removal of a portion of the proposed advertising space in the pool area.
The Upper Dublin School District's advertising initiative took another step towards fruition on Monday night, as revisions to the original advertising proposal were presented to the board for consideration. Among the revisions was an increase in the cost of advertising space. "We had some feedback about the prices, and it was felt the prices were fairly low," said Pam Ryan, Director of Grant and Fund Development. "There was a general consensus to increase the prices, which I did." In order to determine the proper price point, Ryan said she looked at Upper Dublin Township's plans to hang advertisements along the chain-link fence at Spark Field. The township plans to charge $800 per sign, and while the field offers a higher level of …
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Advertising in Cardinal Stadium and the gyms will provide additional, recurring revenue for the district.
“We have great facilities…we have a lot to offer,” Pam Ryan, Director of Grant and Fund Development told the Upper Dublin School Board on Monday night. Ryan believes that there are prime locations within the district that local businesses would like to advertise. Ryan’s proposal to the Board offers potential advertisers 3-year contracts to advertise in the high school's auxiliary gym, wrestling room, main gym, and in the high school pool. There are also opportunities in Cardinal Stadium to advertise on the fence, scoreboard and on the fence between the stadium and the tennis courts. Ryan told the board that the recurring revenue would help defray other costs to the district. However, the prices, sizes, and locations are not finalized and …
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The Upper Dublin School District administration has cut the deficit nearly in half since March, but the 2012-13 budget still shows a $465,000 deficit.
The Upper Dublin School Board took a look at the 2012-13 budget on Monday night during the Board’s workshop meeting. Much of the discussion compared the adjustments made since the draft budget was approved by the board in November as well as comparing the 2012-13 budget to the 2011-12 budget. Brenda Bray, Business Administrator for the District, said, “Budgets are becoming more and more difficult.” She added that the 2012-13 budget is still a work in progress. Bray was optimistic that the Earned Income Tax revenue in the district has remained stable over the past two years. However, revenue from real estate taxes and real estate transfer taxes have both decreased during the current year and are expected to do the same next year and will …
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Wednesday, March 28, 2012
The district could save as much as $550,000 by refinancing loans, but might instead choose to take advantage of low interest rates on new money for capital projects.
The Upper Dublin School District stands to save as much as $551,020 by refinancing loans from 2006 and 2007, according to a presentation from advisors of Public Financial Management, Inc. at Monday's night school board meeting. The district currently owes principal of $7.12 million on the '06 bonds and $8.7 million on the '07 bonds, with graduated interest rates that range from 3.5 percent to 4.25 percent in the final year of payments in 2029. According to analysis by PFM, the district could instead get interest rates as low as 1.06 percent on refinanced bonds in 2013, increasing to 3.8 percent by 2027. The difference would save $272,390 on the '06 series, and $278,628 on '07. In both cases, the district would see almost all of the savings…
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Administrators outline possible cuts and say that "all options are on the table."
When the Upper Dublin School District last announced 2012-13 budget numbers earlier this month, Patch reported that the district was facing a $565,000 shortfall. That number has now grown to just over $1 million dollars, and the district faces the prospect of cutting approximately $770,000 in expenditures by the budget's deadline in late spring, according to school administrators. In a presentation at a special budgetary session of the Board of School Directors Monday night, superintendent Michael Pladus and business administrator Brenda Jones Bray said that the shortfall comes from lower than expected revenues and higher than expected expenditures in 2011-12, and "most significantly," the impact of a HUB Properties Trust tax reassessment …
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
District enlisted services of highly-regarded auditor for "second opinion."
The Upper Dublin School District's financial books are clean. That's according to Bill Gorman, of the Northampton, Pa. based accounting firm Gorman and Associates, who was hired by the district this year to perform an independent audit. "The district is in compliance with generally accepted accounting principals in all material respects," Gorman told the UDSD Board of School Directors at the body's work session Monday evening. "You have a clean opinion, with no qualifications of any kind, which is the best opinion you can get." Gorman, a 30-year professional and distinguished member of various state and national accounting organizations, has a reputation for thorough audits, according to administrators. "Mr. Gorman has a reputation for …
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
The district must now work to rebalance the 2012-13 budget.
The Upper Dublin School District has a half million-dollar budget gap to close for 2012-13, after district administrators announced revised revenue estimates at a Board of School Directors meeting Monday night. However, the deficit amounts to less than one percent of the district's $85 million budget and officials anticipate closing the gap without reductions in staffing or major cuts to programs. In a presentation to the board, district business administrator Brenda Jones Bray explained that several revenue items had been revised from preliminary 2012-13 budget estimates. The biggest reduction came in reimbursement from Holy Family Institute, which is supposed to be a budget neutral item for the district. Upper Dublin in required by the …
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
The Upper Dublin Board of School Directors says the maximum 2012-13 tax increase has been reduced to 4.24 percent, and also signed an agreement with EnerNOC to curb energy usage.
When the Upper Dublin School District first presented its preliminary 2012-13 budget in December, board members revealed that the highest possible tax increase to local residents would be 4.47 percent. In what is surely a development few will take issue with, the board announced that number will now be reduced to 4.24 percent at Monday's legislative meeting. "When we filed for exceptions, we found out that there was a slight change in the calculations, which resulted in a slightly lower potential maximum tax increase," said board member Art Levinowitz. Tax increases are not arbitrarily created by the school district. Since the inception of the Act 1 Index in 2006, the commonwealth dictates by how much each district across the state can …
Peter
10:52 pm on Thursday, May 17, 2012
what do you mean "capital expenditures" is that like teacher salaries? As a recent graduate, I know I would rather be in a class of 20-22 and I would want my kids to be in smaller classes as well. I think that's a sentiment most of the community shares, which is why they keep voting in the board members that favor public education over lowering taxes more ›