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Board releases $107.2 million preliminary 2025–26 budget with 2.81% proposed tax increase
Summary
Finance committee and administration presented a $107,184,158 preliminary general operating budget with a proposed 2.81% real-estate tax increase; the board approved releasing the budget for public inspection and comment.
The Kennett Consolidated School District board voted on Feb. 10 to release a $107,184,158 preliminary general operating budget for the 2025–26 fiscal year and authorized public notice and comment. The preliminary budget proposal includes a 2.81% proposed real-estate tax increase.
During a presentation, board member Michael Finnegan and business-office staff explained key assumptions: no appropriation from fund balance, no new full-year positions funded in the operating budget, a placeholder for strategic-planning items, and a proposed increase in state basic education and special-education subsidies assumed at 2 percent pending the Pennsylvania state budget. The presentation noted two major commercial tax-assessment appeals that could reduce revenue by $341,810 if decided against the district, and a possible East Marlboro Township earned-income-tax enactment that could cut the district’s earned-income tax revenue by an estimated $250,000–$500,000 annually.
Why it matters: The proposed tax increase would generate additional levy revenue while the district plans to absorb programmatic needs largely through attrition or reclassification. The board’s action on Feb. 10 was to release the preliminary budget for public review; the final budget remains scheduled for adoption on June 9, 2025.
Board action: The board approved release of the preliminary budget and authorized the district to post the budget for public inspection and accept public comment at the superintendent’s office through June 9, 2025. The motion to release the preliminary budget was made by board member Michael Finnegan and seconded by Dr. McVeigh; the motion carried.
Budget details included in the presentation: projected local revenues centered on real-estate tax collections (more than two-thirds of revenue), $6.1 million expected from the earned-income tax (at risk if township enacts its own EIT), and expenditures driven primarily by salaries and benefits (more than half the budget). The presentation listed a $1,900,000 increase in levy-derived revenue tied to the proposed 2.81 percent rate and placeholders for technology and programmatic needs in 2025–26.
