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CFO warns district expenses outpaced tax increases over four years; special education, utilities and medical rising fastest
Summary
Chief finance officer Mark Strickler told the board that district expenses rose about 20.7% since 2021 while property‑tax increases over the same period totaled about 12.15%, with the difference drawn from fund balance. He identified personnel costs, benefits and purchased services (notably special education, utilities and transportation) as the
Elizabethtown Area School District’s finance chief told the board on Jan. 14 that the district’s expenses have risen faster than tax revenue over the last several years and that the gap has been covered in part by fund balance.
Chief Financial Officer Mark Strickler presented a multi‑year expense review showing cumulative expense increases of roughly 20.75% from 2021 through the current budget; at the same time, tax increases over the same multi‑year span totaled about 12.15%, he said, producing an 8.6 percentage‑point difference that has been drawn from the district’s fund balance.
Strickler highlighted three expense areas driving the increase: payroll and benefits, professional services (including out‑of‑district special education tuition and contracted services), and utilities/repairs. He said special‑education costs — excluding payroll — have grown materially, transportation costs have increased in part because of more use of minibuses for specialized routes, and medical/health insurance costs are trending higher (the administration is projecting higher medical costs for the current year and has joined a consortium to try to moderate increases).
The presentation also flagged timing effects and accounting notes: payroll percentages vary because teacher pay is spread across pay cycles, and some vendor invoices for December arrived late and therefore may skew mid‑year comparisons. Strickler noted about $8.7 million appeared as a committed fund balance in the most recent audit; board‑authorized movements of that balance in 2023‑24 transferred about $5.5 million into capital reserve to pay project‑related costs. He said the district will continue a budget timeline of presentations and committee reviews ahead of the preliminary budget filings required by state law.
Board members asked for additional detail on building repair tracking, unbudgeted maintenance liabilities, and whether trends will continue. Strickler said the district is improving tracking of internal maintenance labor and externally billed repairs and is exploring utility procurement consultants. He recommended the board use the multi‑month budget schedule staff provided so the district can finalize a preliminary budget and meet tax‑bill printing timelines.
No formal budget action was taken at the Jan. 14 workshop; staff said revenue projections will be presented as the governor’s state budget and other revenue data become available and that the board will have multiple opportunities to refine the plan before preliminary and final budget adoption.
