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William Penn SD proposes 4.45% property tax increase to balance 2026–27 budget
Summary
William Penn School District administrators proposed a 4.45% real-estate tax increase to generate about $2.3 million to cover rising contract costs, benefits and planned restorations to staff and programs; the proposed budget will be presented May 26 with a final adoption required by June 30.
Debbie Mazlowski, chief financial officer for William Penn School District, told the Budget and Finance Committee the district is proposing a 4.45% increase in real-estate taxes that would raise roughly $2.3 million to address higher contract and benefit costs and the district's staffing priorities for 2026–27.
"If we look at the revenue we are looking to increase taxes 4.45% which will give us about $2.3 million in real estate taxes to assist with the increases in the costs here," Mazlowski said during the May committee meeting.
The administration traced the need for new revenue to several cost pressures cited in the presentation: maintenance and operations contracts up about 9.1%, transportation costs up nearly 8%, district-wide insurance up about 9.2%, and salaries and benefits increasing in the aggregate. Mazlowski also said the district’s health-care consortium premium rose about 9.22%, which she characterized as roughly $570,000 of the increase.
Administration projected additional state revenue in the governor’s proposed budget (about $422,000 for basic education, $413,000 for special education and an approximately $4.3 million Ready-to-Learn block grant increase), but warned those amounts are proposals and not final. Federal funding is expected to decline by about $663,000, the presentation said.
Mazlowski said a 4.45% tax increase combined with those state numbers would yield a balanced budget in the district's scenario, though she and other staff noted they must wait for final state decisions. "By law we have to pass a budget by June 30th," Mazlowski said, and the district will present the proposed budget to the full board on May 26 with a final budget adoption in June (date to be determined).
Board members asked staff to produce tax-impact scenarios showing dollar changes for representative home assessed values and to provide supporting documents including bond schedules and grant-status lists. Administration agreed to publish a Q&A and the requested breakdowns on the district website where allowable under privacy rules.
No formal vote on the tax proposal occurred during the committee meeting; it will move to the regular board meeting for consideration.
