Great Valley Finance Committee reviews first look at 2025–26 budget; cautious revenue assumptions tied to Act 1 index

Sherry, staff member, told the Great Valley School District Finance Committee that the administration’s “first look” at the 2025–26 budget assumes conservative revenue estimates and follows the board’s October resolution to remain within the Act 1 index.

The presentation said the district is working with an October 31 snapshot of assessed real-estate values that fell from $4,283,000,000 on July 1 to $4,266,000,000 on Oct. 31; the administration used a conservative planning figure of $4,273,000,000 for the 2025–26 budget. Sherry said the district’s current millage is 24.37; applying the Act 1 index at 4% would raise the millage to about 25.35.

Why it matters: the district is treating the October valuation as an early indicator and deliberately lowered its assessed-value estimate for planning. That conservative approach affects projected tax revenue, which is a large portion of the district’s operating funds and therefore shapes personnel and program decisions.

Key numbers and schedule presented by staff include: the district budget projection based on the first-look scenario; a budget adoption timeline that calls for a preliminary budget vote by April 21, 2025, a final board vote on June 2, 2025, and a state submission deadline of June 30, 2025. Sherry said the presentation shows a balanced first-look budget under the 4% Act 1 assumption but warned staff will continue to “sharpen our pencils” and examine line items before the preliminary vote.

On collection assumptions and exemptions, the administration said it uses a conservative tax-collection rate of 97% for budgeting even though current collections run roughly 99%. The presentation also flagged the Homestead/Farmstead tax exemptions and a small senior-citizen reduction the board adopted last year as items that reduce net real-estate tax receipts; staff said those are tracked on separate line items.

Staff also gave preliminary local-tax receipts for interim and transfer taxes — interim taxes were projected at about $1.3 million and current real-estate transfer taxes at about $2.7 million — and noted that investment earnings and other locally generated revenue remain subject to market conditions.

State and federal revenue lines: staff described basic education funding as essentially flat in the current model and explained that some state accounting changes shifted items between the “basic education” line and the “state shared contribution” line. Federal funds were discussed broadly: staff reported that roughly 1.2% of the district’s budget is federal dollars when all federal sources are included; excluding IDEA pass-throughs, federal funds make up less than 1% of the total. Staff said IDEA and medical-assistance reimbursement (a State drawdown tied to SBAP student-based claims) are expected to remain available.

The committee set a follow-up schedule: staff will return with updated revenue and expenditure figures at future finance meetings in March, April and May, and the administration warned that projections will be refined as closer-to-July‑1 assessed value and collection data become available.