Peters Twp School Directors Approve Tax Hike

The Peters Township School Board met Monday evening and adopted the final budget for the 2021-2022 school year. The $74,250,401 budget is $3 million more than the previous budget. Business Manager Brad Rau states that a 3% raise in taxes will be needed to fund the budget. The increase is a .42 mil increase over last year and is part of a five year plan of tax increases needed to fund the debt service for the new high school. Expenses to cover costs of the Covid-19 pandemic did put a drag on the budget. Rau states that about 80% of Covid-19 costs have been reimbursed by the federal government. Covid-19 did introduce budget items that are ongoing and will continue past the pandemic, such as the Canvass Learning system the district adopted to allow them to perform remote education. The budget does show a deficit of $1.6 million dollars. That deficit will be made up by pulling funds from the general fund. The motion to approve the budget carried unanimously 8-0.