LOYALTON - Upper Dauphin Area School District may be interested in a swap.
A tax swap, that is.
School board directors mulled the possibility during a discussion at their Feb. 11 meeting. Board President David Barder explained the focus of the talks was on replacing the current $250 occupation tax with an earned income tax.
Barder stressed that the district's intent would not be to add a tax but to swap the funds presently generated with the occupation tax with monies that could be garnered by a 0.6 percent earned income tax hike, up from the present rate of 1 percent. That 1 percent, however, is split evenly between the school district and the individual's municipality of residence. The district's portion of the rate is currently 0.5 percent to which would be added an additional 0.6 percent for a total of 1.1 percent.
One of the benefits of the swap would be that the board would not have the many exoneration requests that it currently has with the occupation tax, and that there would be no delinquencies to deal with concerning the EIT.
It's anticipated the district could gain an additional $194,000 in revenue with the swap. On average, someone earning an income of $45,000 annually or more, would pay about $20 more than the $250 they are currently paying; those earning $45,000 a year or less would end up paying less taxes.
Superintendent Evan Williams said the board would need to make a decision, if it wished to proceed in this matter, by the beginning of March. If the board would choose to do so, the tax swap plan would need to be placed as a referendum on the ballot for a public vote this fall.
In other business, the board:
- Accepted the request to retire from Ed Wytovich, effective the end of the 2013-14 academic year. Wytovich has been a long-serving eighth-grade science teacher. Williams said the district would send him a letter thanking him for his years of service.
- Approved the 2014-15 Capital Area Intermediate Unit operating budget, noting there was no increase to the district's contribution.
- Approved the following spring coaches for the 2013-14 academic year: baseball head coach Ryan Lentz $2,364; baseball assistant coach Tim Williard $2,364; baseball assistant coach Steve Klinger $2,364; baseball volunteer assistant coach Brad Deitrich, unpaid; baseball volunteer assistant coach Jeff Seiler, unpaid; softball head coach Chad Everhart, $2,272; softball assistant coach Bob Ligon, $1,639; softball assistant coach Rich Kocher, $1,576; softball volunteer assistant coach Chris Smith, unpaid; softball volunteer assistant coach Steve Wise, unpaid; softball volunteer assistant coach Brent Miller, unpaid; track and field head coach Brian Hoover, $2,942; track and field assistant coach Blake Dutweiler, $1,538; track and field assistant coach Corey Shadle, $1,500; track and field volunteer assistant coach Lora Kerwin, unpaid; track and field volunteer assistant coach Jeff Fisher, unpaid; track and field strength and conditioning head coach, Seth Leitzel, $1,000; track and field volunteer assistant coach, Jordan Feidt, unpaid.
Maryann Troutman and an additional volunteer softball coach are pending clearances and board approval. Troutman's name will be submitted for approval as track and field coach at the Thursday committee meeting. The track season begins March 3.
- Approved Erin Leach and Ruth Ann Bordner for a 50 cent an hour increase for obtaining first aid and CPR, retroactive to Dec. 18, 2013.
- Approved the purchase of new track and field uniforms, noting most of the district's uniform purchases are on a seven-year rotation cycle.
- Approved the request from Vicky Smith to take 24 students to Ocean City, Md., for a chaperoned oceanography trip from 6 a.m. May 24 until 8 p.m. May 26.
- Approved program volunteers for the 2013-14 academic year: Aaron Maurer, Charity Maurer, Jessica McGuire, Susan Schadel and Amy Hoffman.
- Approved the resolution authorizing Williams to sign any and all contracts, agreements, grants and/or licenses with the state Department of Education.
- Approved the 2014-15 Course Selection Book, by a 6-1 vote. Director Mills Eure voted against, saying he would have preferred if the vote was delayed. Eure had discussed wellness credit options.
- Approved several changes to the 2013-14 school calendar.
The high school/middle school teacher conferences and elementary school comp/flex day scheduled for Feb. 3 was posptoned due to weather and will be made up as follows: April 22 will become a K-12 parent/teacher conference day, but will be switched as noted below and the comp/flex day, K-12 will be moved to June 11. As the district took a fourth emergency day on Feb. 5, and as the next make up day listed is April 21, Easter Monday, the district will switch the parent/teacher conference day and make-up day, so the PT conference K-12 day will be April 21, and the emergency day will be made up as a school day on April 22.