The Butler Area School Board on Monday received updates on the school district's debt and revenue in advance of preparing the 2020-21 budget.

The district's bond attorney, Anthony Ditka of Dinsore and Shohl LLP of Pittsburgh, Alisha Reesh Henry, who oversees the district's debt service accounts for PNC Bank, and Nick Morelli, district acting director of business services, presented the updates during a committee of the whole meeting before the regular meeting.

Addressing questions raised at previous board meetings, Ditka said the district has enough capital projects under consideration to meet requirements of a $9.7 million bond issue from 2017.

Ditka said 85 percent of the $9.7 million in bond proceeds must be spent over three years, and the deadline is this Dec. 20. Some already has been spent, but $7.3 million more must be spent by the deadline, he said.

The four pages of capital projects the board is considering represent enough projects to spend the remaining bond money, he said.

“Nothing is wrong here,” Ditka said.

Superintendent Brian White said contracts for paving at the high school and intermediate school, Emily Brittain Elementary School roof replacement, and high school security upgrade projects are expected to be awarded this year.

One reason the district has so much left to spend from the bond issue is that no contractor submitted bids for the paving project last year when it was first advertised, White said. Ditka said the lack of bidders last year was a problem, but advised the board to “proceed with due diligence and keep going.”

The district's debt service from all bond issues is about $5.7 million a year through 2036 for a total of $96.3 million, according to a report submitted by Reesh Henry.

Responding to a question from White, she said there is no downside if the district paid off the $455,000 outstanding obligation on the $2 million bond issue from 2013.

Morelli reviewed the district's revenue and said he would go over expenditures at the next meeting.

Projected revenue for the 2020-21 fiscal year is $53.5 million, or 51 percent, from local sources, $48 million, or 46 percent, from the state and $2.6 million, or 2.6 percent, from the federal government. Total revenue is estimated to be $104,273,174, which is about $50,000 more than the amount budgeted this year, Morelli said.

Most of the local revenue comes from real estate taxes, which are projected to generate $42 million, he said.

The amount of revenue generated by real estate taxes is based on the assessed value of property in the municipalities that make up the district. The district's total assessment decreased by $204,449, he said.

The City of Butler's assessment decreased by $2.4 million, Center Township's decreased by $1.3 million and Connoquenessing's decreased by $179,750, he said.

Those decreases were offset by assessment increases in other municipalities led by a $1.1 million increase in Butler Township.