2.4% tax hike proposed for Apollo-Ridge School District's Armstrong residents

Apollo-Ridge School Board has passed a preliminary budget for next school year that proposes a 2.4% real estate tax hike for its Armstrong County communities and a 7.9% decrease in Indiana County.

The proposed $26.8 million budget for 2021-22 is 1.7% higher than this school year’s.

The district covers the Armstrong County communities of Apollo, North Apollo and Kiski Township and the Indiana County municipalities of Blacklick and Young townships.

Because the district straddles two counties, each with different tax assessment formulas, residents in those counties pay different real estate tax rates. One mill has a different value in each county.

Apollo-Ridge uses a Pennsylvania State Tax Equalization Board calculation, which includes market values and other factors, to determine the school tax rates for residents in each county, said Deana Turner, business administrator for the district.

Expenses driving the proposed budget increase include an estimated $1 million in tuition payments for students in charter schools, pension contributions to the Pennsylvania School Employees Retirement System and special education costs, Turner said.

On the positive side of the balance sheet, the district’s budget includes receiving $1.2 million in special school funding from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, she said.

Requests for comment for this story were not answered by Apollo-Ridge board President Greg Primm and Vice President Forrest Schultz.

The board is expected to adopt the final budget when it meets at 6:30 p.m. June 28 in the Apollo-Ridge Board Room at the high school, 1825 Route 56 in Kiski Township.