Projections for additional revenue, surplus or deficit, and the tax bill impact to the average resident under various tax increase options discussed by the North Penn School District for their proposed 2025-26 budget. (Image courtesy of NPSD)
$348M budget includes $10M transfer for high school renovations
A 2025-26 budget for the North Penn School District, with a 4 percent tax increase, is one vote away from being official.
The school board’s finance committee voted unanimously to recommend a budget for final adoption when the school board meets on June 18.
“There have been no meaningful changes to the budget since the last time we proposed it,” said district CFO Tara Houser.
“At this time, the resolution that’s attached reflects a 4 percent millage increase, with a total appropriation of $348 million, which is not a change from the last time that you guys were introduced to the budget,” she said.
Over the past several months, the board has seen a series of departmental budget presentations outlining the planned projects, expenses and revenues for various aspects of the district, during a series of special finance committee meetings. In early April the board heard details of the latest draft budget for 2025-26, with revenues and expenses slightly higher than in prior years due to the need to record a $10 million transfer from reserves meant to partially fund the first phase of renovations to North Penn High School, and said without that transfer the budget increases were roughly 5 percent year over year with the vast majority due to salaries and benefits.
At that time, the board also saw various tax increase scenarios, including that a full 4.0 percent increase would yield a surplus of roughly $265,000, at an increase of $186 for that average resident, and a tax increase of 3.8 percent would generate enough new revenue to offset the projected $8.6 million starting deficit but with no surplus. Each one percent increase in the district’s tax millage would generate just over $2.2 million in new revenue, and cost the average homestead an additional $47, based on an average assessed home value of $150,000, according to district staff.
In May the board voted to advertise the draft budget for public input and feedback, and said at the time that the budget could be advertised with the 4.0 percent tax increase, but that rate lowered slight if the board sought to do so before final adoption in late June.
During the board’s finance committee meeting on June 3, Houser gave the board a brief update, and committee chair Juliane Ramic asked for a motion and second, then any comments or feedback. No board members suggested any changes to the budget or tax rate, but board President Cathy McMurtrie thanked Houser and the district’s business office for their work preparing the budget, during a spring when both the CFO and assistant business director positions changed hands, and the CFO said it was a team effort.
The board voted unanimously to recommend final adoption of the budget, which could happen when the board next meets on June 18.
Several other budget-related items were also voted ahead unanimously for full board approval, including the 2025-26 homestead and farmstead exclusion level, which Houser said was based on the district’s allocation of gaming revenue from the state. That allocation totals roughly $8.2 million for just over 24,000 homesteads in the district for the upcoming schoolyear, according to Houser, meaning a possible real estate tax bill reduction of up to $343 for those who qualify and apply.
The committee also voted ahead a list of assessment appeals for 2025 that the district will seek to challenge, which the CFO said are based on property sale data the district receives from Montgomery County, compared to the most recent assessed value of those properties.
“The district has a policy that if we believe a property is undervalued by $600,000 or more, we will look into a district-initiated appeal. These are the properties we’re looking at next year,” she said.
One specific appeal was separated out for an individual vote: a property on the 500 block of Stump Road in Montgomery Township is currently under appeal, and the board voted ahead a $4,500 proposal from an appraiser that will determine a new value for the property.
“The assessed value on this property is $1.8 million and the sale price in ’23 was $8 million, so we want to get it appraised, so we can look at the assessment,” she said.
North Penn’s full school board next meets at 7 p.m. on June 18 and the finance committee next meets at 6 p.m. on July 8. For more information visit www.NPenn.org.
This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between North Penn Now and The Reporter. To read more stories like this, visit https://www.thereporteronline.com
