DV okays budget and hopes

DINGMAN — A new budget that may have a $2 million revenue deficit was adopted last Thursday by the Delaware Valley School Board — for now anyway. The vote was 6-2, with Pam Lutfy and Sue Schor opposed and Diane French absent. But board members who supported the plan are already planning to meet to discuss program cuts should the deficit remain after a state budget is approved. School board members have been waiting for more than a month for state legislators and the governor to work out a state budget compromise. That decision would determine whether some state and federal funds, budgeted by Governor Ed Rendell and then cut by the state Senate, will be provided. The district’s zero-tax-increase budget, based on the Rendell version, depends on it. The state is facing a $2 billion budget deficit. Rendell last week proposed several new tax measures to reduce the deficit: including new tobacco taxes, a delay in scheduled business tax cuts and a half-percent personal income tax increase - to 3.57 percent. Superintendent Dr. Candis Finan recently predicted that if the state Senate’s budget alternative -which would lower school aid and eliminate federal stimulus money -is adopted, Delaware Valley would lose $2 million and would be forced to cut programs or increase taxes by six percent. Admitting that the vital state figures were still unavailable, Budget Committee Chair Ed Silverstone said he still recommended approval of the Rendell-based, zero-tax -increase district budget. Board member John Wroblewski has predicted a reduced-funding state compromise and asked for a budget committee meeting to consider where cuts can be made. “It’s frustrating, but it’s out of our hands,” he said. “We can’t spend what we don’t have,” Finan agreed. Lutfy, who heads the legislative liaison for the board, said she’s hearing that the state budget may be delayed until September. “We need to be more forthright in what we’re looking at,” she said. Board Chair Bob Goldsack reiterated his opposition to any tax increase, saying the outcome is still unknown and a property tax increase now might end up funding a school budget surplus. The board scheduled a July 14, 7 p.m. budget committee meeting, to be held at the Westfall administration offices. For more on the state budget, see page 10.