Keystone Central Board Okays No-Tax Increase Budget

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – With little comment, the Keystone Central School Board Thursday night gave a first reading approval to a 2020-21 school year budget that calls for no tax increase. The document amounts to $76.888 million and is unchanged from its April introduction from district Superintendent Jacquelyn Martin and Business Manager Susan Blesh.

In addition to no tax increase, the document will not tap the district’s reserve fund. Martin noted that while there had been “no tax hike” budgets on occasion in previous years, they often were accomplished by transferring money from the district’s reserve fund. She acknowledged there are questions about the next year, given the unknown impact of the coronavirus pandemic and its possible effect on anticipated funding from the state. She said the district has been “really careful” to replenish the fund balance and indicated some of those dollars could be utilized if needed for unanticipated expenses.

Thursday night’s vote was unanimous; a second and final vote will be held in June.

The superintendent had detailed last month steps the district had taken to balance the document which had several million dollars in red ink several months ago. Savings included an $848-thousand decrease in expenditures. Items accounting for that include a $208,800 reduction in the district operating budget, some of that savings resulting from lessened in-school operational costs from the COVID-19 pandemic. The number also includes $342,000 in savings due to a smaller payment to the Sugar Valley Rural Charter School.