JACKSON TWP — The Seneca Valley School Board Monday night approved its 2016-17 budget, which includes a 3.1 mill tax increase.

The spending plan calls for $121.5 million in expenditures, up from $115.5 million for this year.

Under the budget, property tax will increase from 119.9 mills to 123 mills.

The tax increase for the owner of a house with a median market value of $228,300 would be $50 a year.

A mill equals $1 in tax revenue for each $1,000 of a property’s assessed value.

The value of 1 mill districtwide is expected to be $562,696, an increase from this year’s figure of $548,000.

The budget includes using $2.25 million of the fund balance to cover increasing cost of pensions and textbooks. The district’s fund balance is $8.2 million.

Expenses increasing for the district include an increase of $2.75 million for pension plan contributions, $2 million for wages and $345,000 for health care.

At the board’s meeting last week, President Eric DiTulio said the biggest factor in the district raising taxes is increasing costs for employee retirement plans.

“This increase here is not because of the district overspending. It’s because the state has sent costs to us that they aren’t funding. It’s not one year, it’s not two years, they’ve been doing it for a decade now,” he said.

Board Vice President Jim Nickel said Monday that it is important for the board to spend money carefully.

“I’ll continue to be somebody who I think is frugal and fiscally conservative, but never sacrifice what I feel is the best interests of the 7,000-plus students who attend school here in our district,” he said.