JACKSON TWP — Seneca Valley School District plans to approve a 2025-26 general fund budget that tops $180 million and features a proposed 4% tax hike.

The school board presented the numbers at its Monday, May 5, work session. It plans to approve the proposed final budget June 9.

Under the current proposal, operating expenditures would be set at $180.61 million. Expected revenue for 2025-26 is $176.62 million.

The district said it plans to use $3.99 million from its existing fund balance to cover the gap in proposed expenditures and expected revenue.

Those proposed figures represent an increase of $11.41 million in expenditures from the current school year, and an $8.42 million increase in expected revenue.

Local tax revenue will remain the largest provider for the district, which is expecting 72.89% of overall revenue to come form local taxes.

The proposed millage rate would be set at 143.85, an increase of 5.53 mills, reflecting a 4% tax increase. This would bring in an additional $3.9 million, according to the district.

The majority of budget expenditures would go toward personnel costs, such as salaries and benefits. This makes up approximately 72.68% of district spending in the current plan, according to the district’s proposal.

The district has to deal with an increase in health care premium rates in its spending on employee benefits. Rates for medical insurance will increase by 18.8% and dental insurance will increase 5.78%, creating an additional $2.4 million in personnel spending.

“That 5.53-mill increase, over half of that is because of that unexpected increase, so that’s what we’re seeing there,” board President Eric DiTullio said.

Student transportation costs are also going up by approximately $1.4 million following district approval of a new transportation contract in March.

“We did a request-for-proposal process because we knew that all contractors post-COVID have basically increased all of their rates. So by doing that, we had multiple vendors, and we negotiated the best contract possible, and it was lower than it would have been,” Dana Kirk, district business manager, said.

The budget proposal will be on the district’s website for the public to see leading up to the board’s June 9 meeting. It’s expected some changes to the budget will be made before then.