Wyoming Area considers cost-cutting measures

First Posted:

JANINE UNGVARSKY
Times Leader Correspondent

EXETER – The bleak financial picture in the Wyoming Area School District is showing a few bright spots, but sacrifices will likely be required all around.

That was the message from administrators at a special budget meeting Tuesday.
Superintendent Ray Bernardi offered recommendations to save on staff salaries, but the savings can’t be implemented without approval from the district’s union employees.
Bernardi suggested eliminating one in-service day and furloughing the teachers for that day, which would result in a savings of $53,613. He estimated it would cost the average teacher about $225 to $250 in lost compensation.
Bernardi’s plan also calls for salary freezes for administrators and support staff, which would net savings of $17,589 and $118,693, respectively. Administrators have already volunteered to accept the salary freeze, Bernardi said, and preliminary inquiries with the presidents of the support staff and teachers unions have left him cautiously optimistic they would also go along with the recommendations.
Premium return eyed
Bernardi also suggested requesting a one-month return of premium from the Northeast PA Health Trust. Bernardi, who sits on the trust board, said that board approved holding a reserve equal to three months expenses, or a little over $10 million. The surplus is currently at about $15.3 million, he said. A month’s premium equals $230,000, he said.
If approved and accepted, Bernardi’s recommendations would total about $420,000 in savings.
The newest version of the budget also includes expenditure savings totaling $460,762 that would be realized by offering an early-retirement incentive that would remove five teachers and a member of support staff from the budget, restructure bus routes and eliminate five private drivers. Bernardi said the bulk of the savings — $354,518 – would come from eliminating five elementary teachers but would mean larger class sizes.
The savings from the support staff position would be $26,244 and rearranging bus routes would save about $50,000. Routes serviced by the five private drivers would be contracted through the Luzerne Intermediate Unit at a savings of about $30,000.

But the newest version of the budget also factors in some reductions in anticipated revenue as a result of the proposed state budget. Business Manager Tom Melone said the district now expects to get about $70,571 less in funding from the state as the result of the elimination of charter school reimbursement, block grants that pay for full-day kindergarten and dual enrollment grants.
 Melone reviewed the preliminary budget approved Feb. 15, a budget that calls for a 6.1 percent tax increase and would leave the district with a projected balance of only $18,258 at the end of the 2011-12 school year.
Tax increase projected
If passed with that increase, taxes would go up from the current 12.3741 mills to 13.1321 mills for district residents of Luzerne County, or about $90 for the average homeowner.
District residents of Wyoming County would see taxes go from 67.8589 mills to 72.0154 mills, or an average increase of about $68 per household, Melone said.
A mill is $1 tax on $1,000 of assessed property value.
The board said the budget will be subject to review and revision throughout the process, which requires the board to pass a tentative budget by May 31 and a final budget by June 30.