BVA budget includes tax hike & drop
By JEFF STITT
jstitt@yourmvi.com
The Belle Vernon Area school board approved a balanced $38,978,632 preliminary budget for the 2019-20 school year during a special meeting on Thursday.
It includes a tax increase to the state index of 2.65 mills for Westmoreland County residents, bringing the county’s level to 86.90 mills. It provides a decrease of .26 mills for Fayette County residents, bringing its school tax millage rate to 19.89 mills.
Board directors Lou Rood, Joe Grata, Dan Engstrom, Kathleen Forte, Dan Kovatch, Stacey Livengood and Joel Whiteko voted in favor of passing the preliminary budget. Directors Michelle Callaway-Rodriguez and Gloria Yuschak both opposed it.
Business manager J.R. Dzurica said a Westmoreland County taxpayer with a property assessed at the median value of $19,070 ($117,000 market value) would pay $51 more in taxes in 2019-20. Fayette County taxpayers with property at the median assessed value of $61,225 ($86,000 market value) would pay $16 less in taxes.
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