Seneca Valley School District's preliminary 2021-22 budget, approved for public review Monday night by directors, includes a modest tax increase as the district touts a long-term approach to budgeting.

In sum, the $145.7 million budget represents a roughly 4% increase from this school year's budget, as the district plans to increase its tax rate by 2.56 mills, or a 2% hike from its current rate.

Should the budget be approved when it is on the agenda in June, the district's tax rate will become 130.45 mills. For a house with an assessed value of $22,680 — equating to a market value of $263,750, the average in the district — the total bill will be $2,959, a $58 increase from the current year.

Board president Eric DiTullio said that while the budget includes a tax increase, he's pleased with where it currently stands.

“I am proud that we are able to present a budget that is not a 'one-year' approach, but one that is part of a budget process that has been almost a decade in the making,” DiTullio said. “Once again, we have been able to have a proposed budget that, although (it) includes a tax increase, is a 2% tax increase, which is 20% less than the rate of inflation and 33% less than the Act 1 Index.”

That bigger-picture approach, DiTullio said, allows the district to continue improving the educational offerings to its students and families.

“The long-term budget approach the administration and board adopted long ago has allowed our district to not only maintain programs, but expand our course offerings at a controlled rate and impact to the taxpayer,” he said.

At first glance, it would appear the budget has Seneca Valley operating at a deficit, with $145.7 million in expenditures, but just $141.5 million in revenue.But DiTullio said the gap is largely attributable to capital expenses such as the new elementary school in Cranberry Township, and the district is using its “fund balance” — essentially a savings account — to pay for such expenses.“Our 'deficit' budget was intentional and has been as it was designed to be almost a decade ago,” DiTullio said.In fact, the amount of the fund balance used in the preliminary budget is less than that of the 2020-21 budget. In the latter, Seneca Valley used roughly $7.73 million of that fund; in the proposed budget, the district would use about $4.22 million.Moreover, the fund balance is projected to begin the 2021-22 school year with $39.5 million.