Pine‑Richland projects $10.9 million shortfall driven by $11.0 million capital transfer in draft budget

District finance staff presented a proposed final general fund budget and 10‑year capital funding plan that shows a projected budgetary gap driven largely by a planned capital fund transfer.

Chris (district staff) told the board the model projects $115,325,649 in expenditures and $104,380,017 in revenues for a current budgetary deficit of $10,937,632. He and staff said that almost all of that gap results from an $11,011,000 planned capital fund transfer for capital projects (noted in the district's capital plan, including HVAC work). Staff said that if those capital transfers were excluded, the operating budget would show a small operational surplus under the current assumptions.

The presentation included the district's fund‑balance allocations: staff reported a general fund balance figure described in the presentation (not fully spelled out in the transcript), a capital reserve of roughly $9 million and an unassigned fund balance cited as $7,598,000. Staff noted they are keeping conservative assumptions for medical insurance (a placeholder 14 percent increase was included in the projection) and that the largest category of expenditures is salaries and benefits (about 63 percent of the budget; closer to 70 percent if the capital transfer is removed).

Staff reviewed revenue assumptions: roughly 78.8 percent local revenue (63.4 percent from real estate taxes), 20.6 percent state revenue and about 0.5 percent federal revenue (largely exhausted CARES/ESSER funds). The presentation noted uncertainty in property assessment changes and common‑level ratios that may blunt year‑over‑year assessment growth even as development continues.

Timetable and next steps presented: the board certified, on Jan. 8, that it would not raise taxes above the Act 1 index (a 5.3 percent cap was cited) and staff listed the schedule to adopt the proposed final budget at the May 6 meeting and to adopt tax rates and the final budget on June 10 to meet Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) timelines.

No formal board action to adopt the budget occurred at this meeting. Staff requested follow‑up conversations and offered to present additional detail at the May 6 finance committee meeting.

Ending: Staff will continue to refine assumptions (negotiations with bargaining units and health consortium rates remain outstanding) and return to the finance committee and full board with recommended final budget materials on the schedule described.