We would be remiss if we didn't applaud Rep. Kathy Rapp for her vehement support for removing exceptions to the referendum requirements of the Taxpayer Relief Act, commonly known as Act 1.
The measure, an amendment to Act 1, removes exceptions to the requirement that school boards receive approval from voters through referendum for tax increases more than an index tied to the current rate of inflation.
If you have been following this year's local budget wrangling, you'll remember that this year's tentative spending plan includes an increase of just under 1 mill. That would be the maximum allowed under Act 1 in this budget cycle without going before the voters.
Act 1, originally enacted about five years ago, contained 10 exceptions to the referendum requirement. Three of them could be handled by the courts for such issues as emergencies (an imminent danger to students or staff), legal judgements, or a state of disaster declared by the governor. The remaining seven included one that excepted tax increases to cover the costs of prinicipal and interest payments on debt related to construction. The bill passed by the General Assembly and made law with Gov. Corbett's signature removes that exception. The amendment would still permit exceptions for pension and special education costs, but would change the wording of those exceptions.
For some time we have recommended that the school district's construction plans go before the voters - all of the voters of Warren County - because all of the taxpayers of Warren County would be required to pay for them.
The amendment essentially requires that to happen by giving the voters control of the purse strings. Of course, the board could reduce other operating expenses to the extent that, combined with capital improvements, the total proposed millage increase would still be below the index trigger, thus avoiding a referendum.
However, given the cuts to faculty, staff, curriculum and student services in the current proposed Warren County School District budget just to fall below the current index, we doubt that option would be possible while still providing students the minimum educational needs as mandated by state and federal law.
Even conservative projections, based on administration data, indicate that local property taxes would have to increase as much as 13 percent over the next few years to fully implement the current master facilities plan. Unless there is a meteoric rise in the inflation rate to drive Act 1's threshold to that level, we believe the school district would be hard-pressed to avoid a referendum on the matter.
More tomorrow...