JACKSON TWP — The Seneca Valley School Board Monday night unveiled a new proposed budget for next school year that includes a 3.7 mill property tax increase.

The proposed budget is only another glance at a fiscal package that won’t be complete until June. School districts across the state have until the end of June to pass a budget.

The board didn’t vote on the budget but merely got an update on figures and numbers, which still might change in accordance with the state budget and funding levels.

However, under the proposed budget, administrators are projecting about $108.7 million in estimated expenditures, which includes $1 million for buying new textbooks and another $500,000 for student transportation costs associated with the new Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School in Cranberry Township.

Revenues are expected to come from a myriad of factors including the proposed tax increase, which would raise the millage rate from 112.75 mills to 116.45 mills.

Business manager Lynn Burtner cautioned the board all the numbers are subject to change because legislators have yet to pass a state budget.

“There is very little movement at all on the state budget at this point,” she said.

However, an expenditure not expected to change is the rate at which Seneca Valley pays into the state pension system, a rate that continues to climb each year. For instance, administrators are anticipating paying $2.5 million more into the pension system next year than they did this year.

Board President Eric DiTullio railed against that increase Monday night, saying more than 50 percent of the proposed property tax increase is a direct result of the pension rate increase.

State legislators continue to “make us do their dirty work” by forcing the school district to increase their pension costs without providing any additional funding sources to help cover that cost. In return, DiTullio said, tax increases are often a necessity.

DiTullio also said the district could save an additional mill in tax if it wasn’t forced to pay for transportation for students to North Catholic High School, considering one mill is expected to bring in about $536,000 to the district.

“A lot of this is way outside of our control,” he said.

The board will vote on the proposed budget at its next meeting Monday night. It will vote on a final document in June.