BUTLER TWP — Butler School District administrators are planning to propose a budget to the school board later this month that would be balanced without raising taxes or taking money from the district's fund balance.

Nick Morelli, acting director of business services, Monday night updated the board on revenue projections for the 2018-19 school year.

The 2017-18 budget included $104.23 million in expenditures and projected $102.6 million in revenue, including a 3.2-mill tax increase.

With state and federal funding staying about the same and the district holding its millage rate steady at 101 mills, the district would have about $102 million in revenue for 2018-19, Morelli said.

The school board has already opted not to increase taxes above the 3.1 percent Act 1 index set by the state.

If the board wanted to raise taxes, board members could generate a maximum of $1.3 million in new revenue, Morelli said. In that scenario the millage rate would rise to 104.13 mills.

The district is projected to come in slightly under budget this year, because it had anticipated $576,000 from sales of assets, Morelli said. In actuality the district got $200,000 from selling Oakland Township Elementary School and the Broad Street Elementary School has yet to be sold.

After taking money from its fund balance the last two years, the district's bond rating was recently downgraded one notch by Standard & Poor's.

“We've got to get this thing back on the right track,” Morelli said about balancing the district's spending plan.

Also Monday night, the board voted to send out a request for bids for replacing obsolete wireless Internet access points in all its elementary schools.

The district is eligible for a 60 percent discount on the project through eRate, a program administered by the Federal Communications Commission, Director of Technology Bill Railey said. He estimated the cost for the district to be $245,000 after the discount.

A similar project was done in the secondary buildings last year. The project will be proposed as part of the 2018-19 budget.