It may be wishful thinking in another tight budget year, but Octorara Area School Board members are asking citizens to contact their state legislators to encourage legislation which could restore to Octorara $5.4 million annually in revenue which is lost because of properties protected by Clean and Green.
“It’s an issue it doesn’t appear the rest of the state is willing to advocate for,” school board President Lisa Bowman lamented Feb. 21.
“We’d like to have things other school districts have,” said board member Bob Hume, who has testified at state legislative hearings on the impact Clean and Green has had on the rural district.
Business Manager Dan Carsley said the tax break given to farms in Clean and Green isn’t actually “lost,” but shifted to other property owners in the district He said Clean and Green costs each Octorara homeowner not in the program in Lancaster County $800 annually, and the cost is $1,400 annually to those in Chester County.
Octorara is not alone, and according to state Rep. Bryan Cutler, a financial impact study was conducted and he has been hoping to see some positive movement from either House Bill 1960 or 1788.
According to Bowman, state Rep. John Lawrence in Chester County will address the school board this spring about his support of this legislation and other initiatives to bring more business revenue into the school district. Former state Rep. Tom Houghton had been working with the district on both Clean and Green and growth efforts of the Octorara Regional Planning Commission.
Hume said House Bill 1960 is a “good way to even the playing field and bring in a lot of development.” Hume said if HB 1960 were passed, money lost from Clean and Green would come out of the state general fund, rather than from the pockets of local property owners.
“It’s not right to transfer the burden from one group to another,” Hume said. “We can’t afford it.”
The school board recently gave preliminary approval to a 2011-12 $47,829,317 budget which is up $1.8 million, nearly 4 percent, over the current spending plan.
Superintendent Tom Newcome has suggested a menu of $1.5 million in potential cuts which the board said they intend to tackle during their March 14 meeting.
The school board is also negotiating a new contract with its teachers union, overseeing major renovations to the high school, and cheering on the high school basketball team, which will be in district playoffs in Oxford during the last weekend of February.
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Sunday, February 27, 2011
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