EASTON, Pa. — Easton Area School Board on Tuesday passed a 2024-25 budget in excess of $208 million with a 2.25% hike, even as some board members expressed concerns about the district’s future.
District Interim Chief Financial Officer Kathy Ciaciulli gave a brief review of the $208,014,477 in expenditures and $208,014,477 in revenue.
Ciaciulli said the budget was about $2.5 million, or 1.24%, more than last year's budget. Expenditures went up 1.02%, with a $4.8 million deficit.
According to Ciaciulli, district administration “worked really hard to close that deficit gap,” and cut $3 million from the original $7.8 million gap.
Ciaciulli said the tax hike would generate nearly $3 million in revenue for the district.
“This 2.25-percent increase, assuming a 94-percent tax collection rate, is expected to generate right under $3 million, $2.847 million, to be exact, in new revenue,” Ciaciulli said.
“However, this amount is a reduction of almost $1 million from the proposed final presented on May 21. This reduction comes from the changing of the collection rate from 95 percent to 94 percent.
"Historical analysis does show that the district has outperformed previous real estate estimates, so the district has done better than budget in this area.
"And so there is confidence that the collection rate is better aligned with the district's history.”
Revenues, expenditures, shortfalls
The district is poised to get $200 million in basic education funding, alongside $50 million in special education funding. EASD also has $937,004 in ESSER funds it needs to spend by Sept. 30.
About $3 million in expenditures were trimmed for the final budget, Ciaciulli said.
“We updated the commercial insurance and the Workers’ Comp projections based on the final premium amounts that we received," Ciaciulli said.
"We adjusted Social Security and pension liabilities to align with the final proposed salaries. And then we had to increase the medical dental insurance due to the increase in premium rates."
The district will have to pull $4.863 million from its fund balance to make up the gap, though, Ciaciulli said.
"The administration is fully dedicated to addressing the budget for the duration of the '24-'25 fiscal year, in hopes that we can close the deficit further throughout the year,”
Only a few questions came up during the budget discussion.
“I’m just not confident that we're not going to be overspending," said board member Michael Simonetta, who previously was the district’s chief operating officer.
'Aligned to the past'
Ciaciulli tried to calm those concerns by detailing expenditures and inviting Simonetta to discuss the matter further.
Board Vice President Jodi Hess also expressed some worries about “funding for departmental things next year,” which she assumed might not be available.
Ciaciulli clarified that the building budgets had to be “align[ed] to where they were in the past” for the current budget.” That, Ciaciulli said, may have contributed to some confusion.
“So some of that cost savings that you're seeing are from just trying to make sense of numbers that were in that original budget, and then looking at the actuals."Easton Area Schools Superintendent Tracy Piazza
Ciaciulli said that Superintendent Tracy Piazza and the administration also helped refine figures by coming up with per-pupil allocations for the district’s buildings.
According to Piazza, the current budget included standardizing per-pupil allotment at $75 per child in elementary schools and $85 per middle and high school student.
Evaluating the figures against historical spending in the schools helped highlight potential cost savings, Piazza said.
“So some of that cost savings that you're seeing are from just trying to make sense of numbers that were in that original budget, and then looking at the actuals," Piazza said. "What are the dollars and cents that we need as we move forward?
"And then really using this as a baseline, we're knowing then where we have to adjust our budget again, from that point forward, but that's where you're recouping some of those dollars.”
Board members raise concerns
Simonetta said he had concerns about the impact the budget could have on the future for the district.
“I’m very disappointed in the money that we’ve been using from our reserves to balance overspending, and I don’t have any confidence that the numbers being presented for budgeting are going to be that number,” he said.
“I don't believe we've been transparent to the public."Easton Area School Board member Michael Simonetta
Simonetta also said he was worried about “the lack of information presented with the details on the budget.”
“We don't even know what's in the budget," he said. "We don't know what we're buying, what we're not buying. But we are cutting, and we just known the numbers. And there's a lot of concerns with the process."
Simonetta also said he was concerned about the district lacking a projection for the coming years.
“We’re not going to know how bad it is until this time next year,” he said. He indicated the district may not have involved the public as much as it could have for the budget.
“I don't believe we've been transparent to the public," Simonetta said. "Because all the public is hearing is, ‘Oh, it's only a 2.25 percent increase.’
"They're not hearing about the $28 million we've used out of our reserves that should have been used for building projects, or other one-time expenditures.
"So we're not doing our due diligence. We're not being transparent. And I don't think people are aware.”
