JACKSON TWP — Seneca Valley School District's proposed 2018-19 budget has no tax increase. It is the first time in eight years that the budget has been balanced without higher taxes.

The school board voted unanimously Wednesday to pass the proposed 2018-19 budget of $136.5 million with no millage rate increase.

“It's just a proud moment,” said Eric DiTullio, school board vice president. “It was eight years ago when we had a 0 percent increase.”

The millage rate will remain at 126. A value of a mill is expected to increase to $592,645 in the new budget, a 2.7 percent increase over the 2017-18 valuation.

The proposed budget includes $128.5 million in revenue and $131.5 in expenditures, with $3 million in fund balance used to balance the budget.

The final budget will be voted on at the school board's June 11 meeting.

Although the state's Public School Employees' Retirement System contribution rate increased again, the rate increase was smaller than it has been in almost a decade. The rate increase in 2018-19 is 2.64 percent. The district set aside money through a committed fund balance for several years to help handle the PSERS increases.

The 2018-19 budget will transfer $5 million into the capital reserve fund. It also transferred $4.5 million in 2017-18 and $7 million in 2014-15.

“We are now able to transfer because we have some really significant things in front of us,” said Jim Nickel, school board president.

The district is working with two architecture firms to design a new aquatics center on the secondary campus and a new kindergarten to grade six building to possibly replace the aging Evans City Elementary and Middle School.

The board also heard a presentation Wednesday on bond financing to fund future construction projects from Alisha Henry and Chris Brewer of Dinsmore and Shohl, a bond counsel law firm.

The district is considering a $17.8 million bond issue that would create $20 million because bonds are selling at a premium, Henry said.

If approved by the board at an upcoming meeting, the district would go after the bond issue in June, said Lynn Burtner, district business manager.

The new bond issue would not affect the school's annual budget because it would keep the yearly debt service at around $10 million, the level it is currently, Burtner said.

The new bond issue would add two years to the district's current debt service, taking it up to 2032, Henry said.

Seneca Valley is in a league of its own with its debt management and long-term planning, she said.

“There are very few districts that have taken the longer term approach where we have really worked into phasing in these new money plans,” Henry said.