Wyoming Valley West reorganizes, will keep tax increase under state limit

KINGSTON — Wyoming Valley West School Board swore in three newcomers during the annual reorganization meeting Wednesday: Tim McGinley, Nicholas Wilson and Mark Kobusky, then elected Rick Kamus to be president for another year, and Bill Hardwick as vice president.

The board then adjourned and convened the regular monthly meeting that included a vote to keep any property tax increase within a state-set limit known as the “Act 1 index.” The index varies year to year for each district, and WVW’s maximum tax increase this year would be 7.7%.

The vote does not mean taxes will go up that much, or at all. Under state law, a district that votes to stay within the limit has until the end of May to approve a preliminary budget. A district that does not plan to do so has to approve a preliminary budget months sooner in anticipation of either seeking voter approval via a primary election referendum or appealing to the state under a narrow list of possible exceptions to the tax cap.

In fact, Board Member Paul Keating, who served as vice president this past year, said the latest audit showed the district in much better financial shape than expected, with a $16 million fund balance. He suspects up to $3 million of that is federal grant money that may not be available as part of the fund balance. But even if that turns out to be true, the district can pay for three major current projects — a roof and boiler for Third Avenue Elementary and new turf for the stadium — and still have about $8 million in the fund balance. The bottom line: The board has gone from considering a tax hike and borrowing money to anticipating no tax hike and no borrowing this year.

Not needing to borrow also meant the board didn’t have to consider picking a bank as previously planned. The board also had issued a Request For Proposals in hopes of finding an “investment” bank that would increase income through higher interest rates on deposited money, and one item on Wednesday’s agenda that got unanimous approval was to pick Fidelity Bank, which had offered the highest interest rate at 4.5%. Keating said that is up dramatically from the 1.7% interest the district was getting on deposits

The board also:

• Accepted the retirements of elementary teacher Ann Mari Butz, school nurse Barbara Fender, and custodian Jay Bozinko.

• Appointed Sharon Lewis as emotional support aide and Jada Guthrie and Alora Lee as life skills support aides, each at $13 per hour.

• Accepted the resignations of personal care aide Kristine Matello, substitute aide Cierra Meeker, nurse assistant Tiara Ransome, and cleaners Kimberly Miller and Jayson Farris.

• Appointed Jennifer Gosciewski as social worker, Ashley Grevera as occupational therapist and Hayley Sassaman as guidance counselor, each at a starting salary of $51,000.

• Appointed Matthew Engel as full-time security guard at the Middle School, and extended an agreement with Plymouth Borough for a School Resource Officer at the high school for 2024.