Slight increase for Elizabeth Forward taxpayers

By TAYLOR BROWN
tbrown@yourmvi.com
Elizabeth Forward school directors voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt a $44.4 million general fund budget for the 2019-2020 school year.
The spending plan, an increase of 1.24% from 2018-19, will raise taxes 3/4 of a mill, due in part to planned wage and salary increases per contractual obligations and a 34.29% contribution to the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System.
The tax increase will generate an additional $704,000 in revenue.
The new millage rate, 24.7899, will cost taxpayers $2.48 per $100 of the assessed value of a home.
Despite an increase in the spending plan, there was little room to make cuts and difficult decisions had to be made school board President Tom Sharkey Jr. said.
“This board is continuing to correct the poor financial decisions of the past,” Sharkey said. “These difficult decisions are continuing savings to taxpayers of millions of dollars in interest and at the same time not burdening future generations.

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