The operations committee of the Salisbury Township School District met April 8 to work on the proposed final budget for the 2015-2016 school year.

Business Administrator Robert Bruchak could only estimate the support from the state, as Governor Tom Wolf's budget with additional funding for schools has not yet passed.

The public presentation of the proposed final budget is 7 p.m. May 4 in the administration bulding. The public is invited to attend.

The proposed final budget includes full-day kindergarten and a number of items put on a wish list months ago.

A full-time elementary guidance counselor is included in the budget. The elementary schools currently share a guidance counselor.

Funding for middle and high school field trips is also included.

Two part-time assistants are budgeted for the cyber center at the high school and additional support at Harry S Truman Elementary School.

Three part-time instructional assistants are budgeted for office help at the elementary schools and middle school.

Bruchak asked for additional support in the business office due to the increased mandates set forth by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

A courier who also provides additional clerical assistance for the athletic director is included as well as a full-time custodian at the high school.

A middle school swim club advisor and an assistant middle school swim team advisor were budgeted to bring back the middle school swim team.

Money was put into the budget to help with band uniforms as well.

Included in this budget is $822,179 for charter school tuition.

Board members noted if the charter school students came back to Salisbury, there would be no deficit and the students could be integrated into the district with no additional staffing needed.

The board was also surprised to discover Salisbury is required to provide transportation to 49 different school buildings which is mandated by the state. Salisbury must transport students to buildings within 10 miles of district boundaries.

Administrators noted transportation is one of the underfunded mandates by the state. The total transportation expense for 2015-2016 is $2,126,238. Salisbury will be reimbursed $500,051 from the state for transportation leaving a deficit of $1,626,187 which must be paid for by local taxpayers.

Another local taxpayer expense is the rising cost of the Public Employees' Retirement System which is projected to be $3,591,882 for the 2015-2016 school year. Salisbury will be reimbursed by the state for 50 percent of the expense; the remainder must be paid for by local taxpayers.

With a proposed final budget of $33,088,253 and expenses at 33,807,230, the board is faced with a deficit of $718,977.

The board allocated approximately $300,000 from the fund balance, leaving a deficit of $418,977.

After some discussion, members of the board said they would feel comfortable raising taxes 1.45 percent which would generate approximately $324,118.

This impact on the average homeowner would be $52.35.

Administrators left the meeting April 8 charged with trimming the budget by approximately $100,000 to balance the budget.

Following the May 4 presentation, the board will adopt the proposed final budget at the May 13 meeting.

The final budget will be adopted June 17.