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<p>WRIGHT TWP. &#8212; Crestwood School District&#8217;s preliminary budget includes a 6.4 percent tax increase, more than double the 2.8 percent limit set by the state this year. The district plans to apply for an exemption to the state limit allowed for high special education costs.</p><p>Even with the proposed tax hike unveiled at Wednesday&#8217;s school board meeting, the numbers drawn up by business consultants Albert B. Melone Company project a shortfall, with $39.6 million in revenue against $42.1 million in spending. The difference would be covered by draining a fund balance of slightly more that $3 million down to $882,855.</p><p>In an effort to put the proposed hike into historic perspective, Melone included a seven-year analysis of district property tax millage rate (a mill is a $1 tax on every $1,000 of assessed property value). From 2013-14 through the proposed 2019-20 budget, the average tax increase is 2.74 percent.</p><p>Melone also compared the tax increases in that period to the annual state tax limit known as the Act 1 index, created in 2006 when Harrisburg passed the law, known as Act 1, that promised to use some money from legalized gambling to reduce school property tax bills for homeowners. The index uses a complex formula intended to account for each district&#8217;s financial situation, and the limit can vary from district to district and year to year. Only one Luzerne County District has an Act 1 index lower than Crestwood&#8217;s 2.8 percent this year: Dallas, at 2.7 percent.</p><p>In the seven years reviewed, including the preliminary budget proposal, Crestwood tax increases have been below the Act 1 index three times, at the index once, and above the index this school year and next if the proposal becomes final. There was no tax increase in 2017-18.</p><p>Melone&#8217;s presentation included a graphic from a Times Leader story on special education costs published Sunday that compared increases in total spending versus increases in state money for special education in all 11 Luzerne County school districts. The data showed that from 2008-09 to 2016-17, Crestwood special education spending rose by $1.7 million, but state money only rose by $65,805. The disparities were equally steep in the other 10 local districts.</p><p>Under the preliminary budget, Crestwood plans to ask the state for an exemption to the Act 1 index sufficient to raise an additional $646,799 for special education.</p><p>Crestwood is not the first district this year to adopt a preliminary budget exceeding the Act 1 index and seeking an exemption for special education. On Feb. 13, the Wyoming Valley West School Board approved a preliminary budget with a 4.7 percent tax increase, while that district&#8217;s Act 1 index this year is 3.2 percent.</p><p>The school board has until June 30 to pass a final budget.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

6.4 percent tax increase in Crestwood preliminary budget