Income tax and construction top off the school board agenda

WESTFALL - An income tax is going to raise tax bill totals and create a third tax bill for property owners, school board members said. As a board, the Delaware Valley Board of Education is prohibited from taking a partisan position against the May vote on .009 percent personal income tax to offset property taxes. Individually, they can say what they want and they all oppose it. District numbers show that the shift in tax collection will benefit very few taxpayers. Any property owner reporting more than $22,000 in income will pay more in the combined new taxes than is paid now, member Sue Casey said March 15. ”Many people wrongly believe that this new tax will eliminate the property tax,” she said. She said the new tax could actually lead to a property tax increase. If employers outside the district fail to report income figures ... and many residents do work outside the district ... collections for the new tax could drop below the forecast $3.5 million. Should that happen, she said, “this nervous group of mine (the board) might need to increase property taxes” up to 4.75 percent to assure that budgeted revenues will be available. Last week, Casey demonstrated a computer worksheet program that allows property owners, by inserting their income and current property tax figures, to compute the change in their tax bills should the new income tax be approved. She said the program would be made available for public gatherings and civic meetings leading up to the primary elections. In other business, the board last week approved, over the objection of member Ed Silverstone, a $922,143 bid package for 2007 maintenance work, which included construction, heating and air conditioning and plumbing bids. Silverstone argued that the expenses should have been bonded rather than supported by the annual budget. They also heard member Frank Colletta report that district-wide, 67.5 percent of district students take part in co-curricular activities.