Pleasant Valley School Board adopted the preliminary budget for next school year Thursday evening, with a 4.34 percent increase in expected expenditures. The final budget will be presented for approval before June 30.

The current school year budget set the cost of operating the district at $102,140,454 or 146.0160 mills. The budget for 2017-2018 school year estimates that the operating costs will rise to $106,520,290 for a total of 152.347 mills.The difference would amount to a 6.331 mill increase over current year school taxes.In an example given by the district a home assessed at $20,983 would have a school tax bill of $3,197, which represents a $133 increase in taxes.During the next few months the district will continue to look at line items within the budget to attempt to reduce costs. Once a preliminary budget has been approved the district can only reduce the millage but cannot increase it above the preliminary estimate.According to the district, there are a number of unknown factors which could affect the final numbers including the state budget. Gov. Tom Wolf is expected to release the proposed state budget in March.