Manchester Board of Education Approves Slight Tax Hike

The Manchester Township Board of Education has unanimously adopted a $51,518,475 budget for the 2013-2014 school year that will hike the average homeowner's tax bill about $14 over last year's rate.

Superintendent of Schools David H. Trethaway and School Business Administrator Craig A. Lorenzen presented on the budget at the regular Board of Education meeting held last night.

Lorenzen noted that there was an overall increase in the budget of 0.6 percent, or $292,000 overall.

The fiscal plan would increase the school tax rate by about 26 cents, from $1.04 to $1.29, per $100 of assessed property value. The owner of a home assessed at the township average of $156,000 would pay an increase of $14.21 from last year’s tax bill.

Trethaway said a decline in the overall tax base contributed to the the hike.

"Our budget is built on property taxes, and the recent assessments have fallen. There was a  decrease in town of $740 milion of reassessments," he said.

Trethaway noted that upgrades to district security, as well as upgrades to an aging air conditioning and telephone equipment have also been built into the budget.

District administrators also noted that mandated - and unfunded - teacher evaluations, as well as the implementation of new student tests, have also increased costs. The newer student tests will be online, which will add to the projected budget.

Overall, Trethaway noted that the school district gets 81.9 percent of its funding from local taxes, whereas the state provides 11.1 percent of the funding, and federal contributions equate to about 1.8 percent of the funding.