The Pleasant Valley School Board approved the Proposed 2020-2021 Final General Fund Budget Thursday night in an 8-1 vote. There are two more public meetings concerning the budget before the final vote on June 25. The budget includes a 1.490-mill increase over last year’s budget.

Susan Famularo, the business manager for the school district, said the mill increase would amount to an extra $45 on a tax bill for a house valued at $139,742. She said the mill rate was adjusted to 22.6015 mills from 150.016 mills following the reassessment in 2019 by Monroe County. Now the mills reflect 100% of the value of the property versus 20% as it was before.

Famularo also said the school district recently learned that it will receive about $4.1 million through the Taxpayer Relief Act. This means that via the Homestead Tax Exemption, taxpayers will receive a reduction of $500 on their bills. This change has not been added to the budget yet.

“This funding does not supply our taxpayers with refund checks. It will be reflected in the Aug. 1, 2020-2021, tax bill in the form of an exclusion from the total amount of taxes due,” she said.

The district’s total budgeted expenditures equal $103.7 million, but expected revenues equal $99.8 million. Taxes alone make up most of the revenue and equal about $47.9 million.

To fill the gap, Famularo expects the district will have to dip into the fund balance for about $3.8 million to meet the expenditures.

“We expect this (COVID-19) to be an event that’s not only affecting us for the current year for the 2019-2020 year, but also the 2020-2021 year and the 2021-2022 year,” she said.

District Superintendent Lee Lesisko said, “Pleasant Valley is expected to lose $2.4 million to $3 million due to COVID-19. We’re not sure what moneys will be forthcoming from state or federal government, so this is very problematic for us - not just for us but also for other school districts.”

He said that even though the budget outlines areas of spending, it doesn’t mean the money has to be spent.

“We are going to proceed with caution until we have a better grip on school funding,” Lesisko said.

School Board Director Susan Kresge said she was voting no on the proposed budget because some line items were added to it since the board voted on the preliminary budget in January.

“I know we’re still going to look at it, but I cannot vote for those line items this evening,” she said.

School Board Director Len Peters said he wanted to remind everyone that they have another month to continue to work on the budget.

“Our goal is to lower the 1.4 tax increase as much as possible,” he said.

It was sentiment echoed by School Board Director Laura Jecker.

She wants “to schedule, as soon as possible, a meeting to discuss with the board further recommendations for reductions. It’s vital we do not raise taxes this year.”

Jecker thinks that because of the economic uncertainties in the community, now is not the right time for a tax increase.

The budget is available for the public to view on the school district’s website.