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Committee approves $333.88 million spending plan and homestead relief allocation; tax rates proposed
Summary
The West Chester Area School District property finance committee approved a final budget figure to send to the full board, recommended millage rates, accepted state homestead/farmstead relief allocation and authorized fund-balance commitments; the committee also reviewed a low volume of Right-to-Know requests.
The West Chester Area School District’s property finance committee approved a final budget package to forward to the full board and recommended millage rates for the 2025–26 fiscal year, and accepted the annual homestead/farmstead allocation from the state for tax relief.
Terry Scully, who led the budget presentation to the committee, said revised forecast changes included a combined reduction of $205,000 in administrative and custodial salaries in 2024–25 and recognized $400,000 in current real-estate tax receipts. Scully said savings and refinancing activity produced roughly $925,000 in net benefit used to reduce the millage impact for 2025–26.
The committee approved a total expenditure figure of $333,879,499 for the 2025–26 proposed budget to forward to the full board for final adoption. The committee also recommended millage rates of 23.3845 mills in Chester County and 11.3681 mills in Delaware County for the 2025–26 year; staff characterized the resulting tax increase as roughly in the 2.5% range compared with current projections.
Scully told the committee the district recognized a $6.1 million state homestead/farmstead allocation (state-funded local tax relief tied to gaming revenues) and that 24,534 properties had applied for homestead or farmstead status; the average homestead benefit was stated as $248.71 after applying the district’s proposed millage calculation. The staff presentation included a county-by-county millage comparison showing the district’s proposed 2025–26 millage would remain lower than peer districts’ approved 2024–25 millages.
The committee unanimously moved the budget figure and related resolutions to the full board. One committee member later signaled to the record that they intended to vote no on the budget at final board consideration, citing concerns about long-term expenditure growth and student proficiency trends.
On fund balance, staff asked the committee to authorize the administration to commit and/or assign fund-balance categories consistent with prior practice (for property-assessment fluctuation, staffing contingencies and other standing needs) and to return in November with final dollar amounts once the year-end audit is complete. The committee approved that authorization without specifying end-of-year dollar figures.
The committee received a short update on Right-to-Know (RTK) activity: third-quarter RTK costs and requests were low compared with previous years. Scully reported 15 requests for the quarter with estimated incremental costs of $604, and $5,172 in costs year-to-date as of March 31. Staff noted one larger request accounted for nearly $4,000 of the expenses; the committee discussed quarterly vs. semiannual reporting for spikes.
The committee’s recommendations — the final budget total, the homestead/farmstead resolution and the tax-levy resolutions — will be presented for formal approval at the district’s next full board meeting.
