We had our monthly Audit/Finance committee meeting last night.
We first talked about the current year budget and where our revenues and expenses are today compared to where they should be. We are currently expecting a significant surplus due to liened taxes collected last year.
We also talked about our latest five year budget forecast. I am waiting for an explanation on a few items before commenting fully on it. The forecast is still grim due to PSERS, high school construction and base budget increases. When compared to last years estimated projection (and focus on the word ESTIMATED as we were reminded by our finance manager last night) there is a slight improvement (7% lower) from last year's headline 45% increase over five years number. However, like I mentioned above, there seemed to be a few errors that either need fixed or further explanation. Once I have it, I will be sure to post it here. Director Posti did post more information on her blog and I will direct you over there for her take on the meeting. Again, I will have more, but I am not comfortable presenting the full budget without an explanation or correction to the document.
The PSERS pension issue was another topic up for discussion. I talked about the current legislation being discussed in the House. Most of the information I pulled can be found at the Pennsylvania School Board Association website here. While there is current legislation meandering through the House, the legislation only deals with a long term fix the pension problem. It would create a dual-enrollment system where future employees would be part defined benefit and part defined contribution. While this may end up being a solution adopted by the Commonwealth, it does not address the immediate need for local property tax relief from the PSERS funding crisis.
As part of the PSERS discussion I asked that members of the committee recommend that the board adopt a resolution urging the legislature figure out a way to fix the immediate effects of the PSERS funding spike.
That's all for now. Congrats to the Mt Lebanon boy's basketball team for their victory over Baldwin. It was the first game I had attended this year.
Thanks for reading.
James
