During the Salisbury Township School District Finance Committee meeting Jan. 11, Chief Financial Officer Dawn Nickischer reported the auditing process has been completed and the district’s annual financial report has been posted on the district website. She also presented a two year comparison of the district’s expenditures, revenues and investments in an effort to show the board the financial health of the district.

Nickischer informed the board she will be attending training on Forecast Five which allows her to provide forecasts, outlooks and historical trends in a better format than the current reporting system.

Board member Sam DeFrank expressed his appreciation for the clarity of Nickischer’s report while board member Joe Gnall inquired about what kinds of investments the district currently holds. Nickischer reported money is in a high interest checking account and she would like to invest in more CDs in the near future, staggering them in 6-, 9- and 12-month CDs in an effort to earn more interest.

Nickischer also relayed positive news on the district’s insurance renewal which saw a less than expected increase and the bond sale which was significantly lower than originally posted. The bond sale, which was initially estimated to cost the district $8.1 million, was reduced to $7.8 million.

The board also received an update on the budget process for the 2023-2024 school year. A timeline to a June 14 adoption was established and at this point the business office is in the process of finalizing building budgets and estimating the cost of an impending teacher contract agreement.

The next short range goal for the board is to adopt the preliminary budget by the Feb. 8 board meeting so it can be submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Education Feb. 20.

Nickischer also gave an overview of the many expenditures and increased costs associated with salaries and benefits, special education and cyber charter school costs, transportation costs and increased debt service offset by a 4.1% increase in millage.

Joseph Kuzo expressed concern with raising taxes to the maximum allowed by the Act 1 Index every year and would like to see at least some calculations using less than the maximum increase allowable - even if it is not feasible. At issue is the mindset taxes are automatically raised to the highest level without regard for whether it is possible to raise taxes to a lesser degree.

In the future, Nickischer agreed to include multiple calculations at various tax rates.

The next operations and finance committee meetings are scheduled to be held 7 p.m. Feb. 1 in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road.