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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- Based on an unofficial straw poll, the Hollidaysburg Area School Board is headed toward a tax increase when it approves the final budget for the 2023-24 school year at its June 14 meeting.
Even though two members -- Manny Nichols and Jennifer Costanza -- were not present at Wednesday's meeting, an impromptu vote to gauge where all the members stood on a potential tax increase finished 5-2, with Ronald Sommer, Nicole Hartman, Lonna Frye, Doug Stephens and Scott Brenneman all voting in favor and Carmen Bilek and Kenneth Snyder opposing.
The board has to approve its budget for the coming school year by June 30, and discussions have been ongoing since the proposed budget was approved on May 10. That budget showed a deficit of more than $3 million and on May 17, district Superintendent Robert Gildea said the administration was suggesting a tax increase to the Act 1 index of 5%.
While almost every board member said they did not want to raise taxes, several said it seems like the only solution to close the deficit gap as much as possible.
"I think we need to raise taxes," Sommer said. "It seems to be the only way."
Frye agreed, saying it would be "irresponsible" to not include an increase this year.
"If we don't do some type of increase, we will be rationing opportunities for our students," Frye said.
Two teachers spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting to raise concerns about any potential cuts the board might eye instead of raising taxes.
Mike Rawlins, a social studies teacher, and Andrea Walter, a science teacher, said they have already had cuts made over the years that have impacted how they design their courses and the materials they use.
Walter said her department was told to cut 20% of its budget last year, and she said the department chose to forego maintenance of the school's numerous microscopes -- which cost a minimum of $3,000 to $4,000 each -- as part of those cuts. She said several of the microscopes have now fallen into disrepair and teachers have had to scramble to find replacements in their classes and labs.
"We can't cut any more," Walter said. "I suggest we start investing in our students and stop taking from them."
Rawlins said the experience has been similar for teachers in his social studies department and in the English department. He said books he is using in his political history courses have George W. Bush as the most recent president -- when many of his current students were born in the middle of Bush's presidency and have no memory of his time in office.
Rawlins said that if the board pushed off raising taxes another year, the situation is going to get "worse and worse."
"I know it's a hard decision and I don't envy you, but education is expensive," Rawlins said, adding that it takes commitment from the community to make the district run as it should and to provide students with the classes and education they need.
Community member Jim Murphy argued in favor of an increase, saying Hollidaysburg has a "long tradition of excellence" and the real estate value around the borough is tied to that perception. He said that if the quality of the district dips, new families will not want to move into the area and pay a "premium" for a home. He said people realize everything has gone up in price, so "why would the school district's expenses be any different?"
"We're going to decide we're going to maintain a quality school system or we're going to ration opportunity," Murphy said.
Bilek suggested that the board and administration look into using Amtran as a transportation alternative in the coming years. She said the transportation costs for the district are roughly $2.5 million and could be an area in which the district could save some money. District business manager Autumn Fiscus said the state reimburses some of that money each year, so the cost usually ends up being closer to $1.6 million.
"For me, increasing taxes does not solve the problem we have," Bilek said. "We're putting a Band-Aid on this budget."
Snyder agreed, saying he didn't want to put the burden on the taxpayers when it's mostly because of the lack of funding coming from the state that the district is in this position.
"We're trying to ask people in our community to spend more money when their costs have gone up just as ours have," Snyder said. "I cannot see where it is morally right to take from people who don't have it so that we might have it."
He also said he wished the district administration gave the board more information pertaining to the budget during the school year and not just when it came time to approve the preliminary budget. Snyder didn't feel it was his responsibility as a board member to come up with all the solutions and bring them to the table; it's supposed to be the administration providing solutions for the board to vote on.
Gildea pushed back on that remark, saying the business office had given the board a spreadsheet showing a balanced budget back in November and only two board members looked at the information. He said that budget showed some options for cuts and a suggested tax increase.
"We're not at a point where we just didn't look closely enough or someone didn't do their job," Frye said, adding they were at the point where taxing was what was best for the district and for the community.
Bilek said she was one of the two who read over the information the administration provided.
"What I looked over prior to consolidating some of this information in a way that is more understandable for me is that the gap that we need to narrow between the budget and the deficit is not going to come from these teachers and their supplies," Bilek said. "But we cannot tax our way out of where we are."
"I don't think there's anything left (to cut)," Hartman said.
Gildea said the state system of funding education needs to change if the district is ever going to be able to close its deficit without significantly raising taxes year after year or cutting a significant number of programs and teachers. He said there is an "overreliance" on real estate taxes in the state formula and the district pays the price, despite a number of community members living on the bare minimum and not living in a home that meets the estimated average value in Hollidaysburg.
"I sympathize with our taxpayers who have been in their house for 40, 50, 60 years and have maintained those homes and are proud of those homes and don't want to leave their homes, and they're on fixed incomes," Gildea said. "But that's not something this board can solve. That's something we have to petition our legislators to solve."
Sommer said the board couldn't afford to avoid the decision on raising taxes another school year.
"We've kicked this can down the road year after year," Sommer said.
Stephens concurred, saying there's "too much at risk."
"We're facing a financial cliff if we don't do something now," Stephens said.
Mirror Staff Writer Nate Powles is at 814-946-7466.