Two years ago the Pittsburgh Public Schools expected that the district would be out of money/insolvent/bankrupt by 2015. At that time, the district’s financial analysts projected that the deficit for 2014 would be $29.93 million; the district’s budget for this year showed a deficit of $14.3 million; now it appears the year will end with a small surplus of $1 million.
Now the projection is that the bottoming out will come in 2018. The board did enact a 2% increase at the beginning of the year that raised the millage rate from 9.65 mills to 9.84. That followed an increase in 2013 when the reassessments went into effect. Without the 2013 increase the millage would have been 9.49 mills.
Pension payments are expected to jump $12 million in 2015, and next year is when the current teachers’ contract expires. Scenarios have been put together where mention has been made of increases in the real estate tax up to the Act 1 index, and it is worth noting that one the exceptions remaining to exceed the Act 1 index is for pension costs.
However, the district is also equipped with the findings from consultants that the per-pupil spending in PPS is $7,000 higher than comparable districts in the state that the consultants selected.
