SLIPPERY ROCK — Slippery Rock School District's 2019-20 budget includes a tax increase.

The school board on Tuesday adopted a final budget with expenses set at $33,634,004. The budget calls for a property tax rate increase of 1.96 mills.

“That was not the max,” said Paul Cessar, district business manager.

Cessar said the maximum increase the board was allowed to make by law would have been 2.84 mills.

A mill is equal to $1 for every $1,000 of a property's assessed value.

The median assessed value for a property in the district is about $17,000.

Projections for the district's revenue fall short at $33,294,810.

“The budget is slightly off-balance,” Cessar said.

Cessar said increased expenses include increases to retirement system costs, cyber school costs and more students participating at the Butler County Vocational-Technical School. He said special education costs and contracted salary increases were other factors.

Cessar said revenue projections could always change based on a number of variables, including negotiations and collection rates.

“On real estate taxes our collection rate was down a little (this year),” he said. “The two years before, we had record collection rates.”

Real estate taxes brought in $12,970,000 to the district during fiscal year 2018-2019, and projections show real estate taxes could bring in $13,345,000 next year.

Cessar said one positive going into next year is that no large construction is pending so capital savings can grow, while debt service has been paid off since October 2018.

“With that debt service paid off, we're saving about $1.3 million,” he said. “What we save in that debt service, we are putting aside to fund future projects.”