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KINGSTON — Wyoming Valley West School Board voted unanimously to keep any property tax increase within a state-set limit, but business consultant Joe Rodriguez said the district had little choice. Calculations done by the business office showed the district would not qualify for either of two state-allowed exceptions to exceed the limit.

The limit was set by the state law known as Act 1 of 2006, which authorized the use of money from legalized gambling to help offset homeowner property taxes through a “homestead exemption. The stat annually sets a maximum tax hike for all districts. Wyoming Valley West’s limit this year is 3.7%.

Districts can only exceed the limit, known as the Act 1 Index, by either getting voter approval in the spring primary via a referendum, or by getting exceptions allowed by the state for a limited number of reasons. Rodriguez, who worked as the business manager for years but has been offering free consulting services since retirement, said the district looked into applying for exceptions for rapidly rising special education costs or to cover escalating retirement contribution costs.

“After we looked at the numbers, we didn’t qualify for either,” he said.

Voting to stay within the limit gives the district more time to draw up a preliminary budget, and Rodriguez said it’s too early to tell what staying within the limit will mean, but early numbers suggest a steep shortfall between revenue and spending without exceeding the limit.

The board will have to find savings before the end of June, the legal deadline for passing a balanced budget.

Near the end of the meeting, Board President Joe Mazur pointed to two agenda items that he said shows the budget problems the district faces. Abiding by court orders, the board had to approve tax refunds to HCSC Laundry totaling $39,495 and refunds to Platinum Health at River Run LLC totaling $146,868. Both orders came as a result of tax assessment appeals for the years of 2016, 2017 and 2018.

After the meeting, Rodriguez offered data that he said shows that assessed property values in the district have dropped by $65 million in the last nine years.

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By Mark Guydish

[email protected]

Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish