School District Wants to Tax Residents Double the Allowance

Lower Moreland Superintendent Dr. Marykay Feeley recently announced that the Pennsylvania Department of Education approved exceptions for the Lower Moreland School District, which will allow LM to be above the 1.7 percent Act I index.

With this new information, Lower Moreland currently stands to increase taxes by 4.05 percent while it adds costs to its budget for the 2013-14 school year.

Lower Moreland was approved for exceptions for retirement contributions, but Feeley said the school board does not anticipate being approved for special education exceptions.

“We are actually able to tax beyond our index,” Feeley said. “So the proposal is around 4 percent. Come the end of June is when we’ll have that final vote … Certainly between now and then it has a possibility of coming down.

“It allows us to increase our taxes by about $404,000,” Feeley added.

The school board has until June 30 to formally adopt its budget, and Feeley said that 4 percent could come down a bit.

For a home assessed at $210,000 in Lower Moreland, residents will see a monthly increase of $21.28 ($255.32 yearly).

With more money at its disposal, the School Board plans on adding the following positions in 2013-14:

One way the school has been able to add costs is its ability to add revenue. Last year Lower Moreland schools installed solar panels in an effort to save money and energy. Now they are seeing savings and returns one year later.

“We’re constantly looking at different ways to generate revenue beyond the traditional ways," Dr. Feeley said. "We’re now realizing savings in each building with Solar panels and now we’re actually getting solar energy credits back.”