CLEARFIELD – Monday night after extensive debate, the Clearfield Area School Board voted to approve a 4-mill tax increase for the 2024-25 budget.
Earlier in the meeting, resident Jeff Thorpe spoke to the board about the proposed increase, which at the time was floated at 2-mills.
He told the board that with the current economy people cannot afford a tax increase, and that they are taxed to their limit as it is.
During the discussion, Business Manager Sam Maney noted that he does not build much extra into the budgets to begin with and so there is little to trim out.
“As of today, we don’t have a state budget,” he said, and therefore have no way of knowing what contribution the state will give districts in the coming fiscal year. He based this year’s budget on last year’s numbers.
Maney said that the school districts are required to have their budgets passed by the end of June, but there is no such regulation on the state.
The amount of money received per mill is based on the value of a property. For example, an assessed value of $10,000 would yield $10 per mill while $25,000 would yield $25 per mill.
The last county-wide assessment, furthermore, was conducted in 1989.
When asked, Superintendent Terry Struble said that the district could raise the millage to 7.7 under the Act 1 index this year and Maney added that 4 mills would avoid a deficit.
After a few more moments of discussion, a motion was made for a 3 mill increase with four members voting yes and five voting no.
A motion was then made for a 5 mill increase, which died for lack of a second., and Maney interjected that he understood that no matter what the board did, it would be an unpopular decision.
A third motion, for a 4-mill increase, was made and passed seven to two.
The board them approved the Homestead and Farmstead Exclusion Resolution with Maney noting that the amount this year is $299.36.
Earlier in the meeting, the board also heard from resident Kay Bloom, who expressed her concerns regarding bullying in the district.
She referred to one child continually bullied and the child has attempted suicide twice because of it, yet it seems that the district isn’t taking the matter seriously.
Bloom added that she has been told that the district sweeps the matter under the rug for funding reasons and also that they do not want to be sued by the parents of the bullies.
She said that if they don’t take care of the issue, the parents of those being bullied will be the ones contacting lawyers and suing the district for not protecting their children.
“You all seem like decent people. Don’t let someone kill my baby.”