Deer Lakes

School District

An Important Message Regarding the Deer Lakes School District Budget

A Message to the Deer Lakes Community:

The Deer Lakes Board of School Directors and Administration takes pride in offering students the highest quality education possible while remaining fiscally responsible to you, our constituents.

In recent years, we have accomplished equitable access to electronic devices by providing an electronic device to each of our students in a 1:1 initiative, risen 17 spots to rank No. 43 in the Pittsburgh Business Times, and have invested more in Mental Health Services by hiring a new Behavioral Specialist and an additional Mental Health Therapist.

We are committed to continuing our excellence inside and outside of the classroom, as well as, being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars, which have not increased in nine years.

We must also address a budgetary deficit due to a number of factors, including but not limited to the Allegheny County Commissioners’ reassessment of the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills Mall, increasing Cyber Charter School costs, and increasing benefit expenses to Deer Lakes School District.

To address the budgetary deficit, the Deer Lakes Board of School Directors preliminarily approved, by a 6-1 vote, a proposed General Fund Balance that has a 3.7% mill increase in property taxes. A final budget will be approved in June.

Pittsburgh Mills

Under the original plan crafted in the 1990s, Frazer Township and Deer Lakes School District agreed to create an 80-percent Tax Increment Fund (TIF) for Pittsburgh Mills. Any increased tax revenues collected as a result of an increase in property values then go into the TIF fund and can be used by the township for a wide range of purposes within the TIF to promote redevelopment. 

Under the original 20-year agreement, Deer Lakes has received approximately $1 million per year. Due to a recent reassessment, that figure has dramatically decreased to roughly $430,000 in annual taxes to Deer Lakes, a 57-percent drop.

The county reassessments have resulted in the School district being forced to refund much of the money already collected to property holders under the decades old TIF agreement. That has proven to be a substantial burden as the mall and the other stakeholders in the Neighborhood Improvement District (NID) have continually prevailed in their appeals.  The NID, a limited geographic area within a municipality, was created to fund public infrastructure, facilities, etc. via a special assessment levied on all designated NID property.

It is common for property assessment appeals to be used to reduce taxes on major developments. The reductions generally hit the budgets of local municipalities and school systems, and unfortunately Deer Lakes School District is no exception.

In the case of Pittsburgh Mills, property owners also could feel the pain through the special assessments required as part of a Pittsburgh Mills NID set up to guarantee the bond repayments, if budgetary shortfalls arise.

In all, Deer Lakes has refunded more than $1.3 million to the members of the NID including Pittsburgh Mills Auto Properties ($214,000), Macy’s ($186,000), Lowe’s ($47,000), Walmart ($41,000), Sam’s Club ($39,000), VPM ($32,000) and Eat-n-Park ($21,000) amongst others. 

Cyber Charter Schools

Cyber charter school tuition is not free. 

In fact, cyber schools cost taxpayers and each local school district a significant amount of money annually. Cyber charter schools will cost Deer Lakes School District nearly $1.1 million, about a $472,000 increase from the 2019-2020 school year.

This significant cyber charter school cost, all at the expense of our taxpayers, contributes to forcing the district to make tough decisions and adversely impacts our students and community. 

PSERS/Healthcare

Deer Lakes School District has also seen costs increase for the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) and Healthcare.

The employer percentage for PSERS has increased from 34.51% to 34.95%, which is roughly a $200,000 increase of budgeted figures from the 2020-2021 school year to the 2021-2022 school year.  Health insurance premiums are also increasing by 5% for the next school year.  

 

What’s Next?

The Deer Lakes School District administrative team and Deer Lakes Board of School Directors are exploring options like raising taxes, cutting or reorganizing staff, etc. to address the budget deficit.

As mentioned earlier, the Deer Lakes Board of School Directors preliminarily approved a proposed General Fund Balance that has a 3.7% mill increase in property taxes.

These are difficult decisions that we take seriously, and we appreciate your understanding and respect your input as we move forward in this process.

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