Claysburg-Kimmel Board Approves Budget, Names Band Director

The Claysburg-Kimmel School Board voted unanimously to pass the 2023-24 budget with a 3-percent tax increase. Claysburg’s 2023-24 Act 1 limit for a tax increase is 6 percent, but district officials were able to find a workable budget that required an increase of half the allowable limit.

The increase brings Greenfield Township’s real estate taxes to 9.05 mills, and Kimmel Township’s to 10.87 mills. The increase will generate $93,000 in revenue for the district and will cost households an average of $23.

When first proposed in April, the budget showed an estimated total revenue of $14,487,962 with total expenditure estimated at more than $15 million, leaving a deficit of almost $800,000. After a month of combing through line items, the district’s final 2023-24 budget shows revenue of $14,810,390 with expenditures of $14,788,442, leaving $21,948 in revenue over expenses. The nearly $22,000 in revenue remaining after expenses, along with $100,000 in budgetary reserves, gives the district a $121,948 cushion and no deficit.

Business Manager Dena Burket said last month that the final budget was achieved by Superintendent Mark Loucks and the entire adminstrative team working together to eliminate a more than $750,000 deficit from its original form.

In other action, the board voted unanimously to approve McCailey Flaugh as marching band director for the 2023-24 school year at a salary of $3,000 and a supplemental salary of $25 for one-on-one sessions during the school day.

Regarding the on-going athletic field project, the board approved the bids for concession stand and dugouts to Leonard S. Fiore in the amount of $496,000, Mashan Inc. for electrical work in the amount of $36,400, Montgomery Brothers Plumbing for plumbing and heating work in the amount of $38,226, and S.P. McCarl for mechanical work in the amount of $54,378.

The board also approved change orders of $23,100 to Mashan Inc. for parking lot lighting, $8,325 for tennis court lighting, and $10,400 for cabling for network and security cameras.