Steel Valley school directors got some bad news Monday night when auditors told them the district is not operating with a balanced budget and that a tax increase for next year is a virtual certainty.

Betsy Krisher, a partner with the auditing firm of Maher Duessel, reviewed the firm’s draft audit report for the board’s finance committee and informed the board that it had overspent its general fund budget in 2007-08 by $349,266.

She warned that if a similar scenario exists this year, “you won’t have any fund balance left all.”

To cover the overspending in last year’s budget, the district used money from its fund balance, which now sits at $243,068.

“You have to balance in 2008-2009 or you will be in the red. There is no cushion,” Ms. Krisher told the handful of board members who showed up for the finance committee meeting along with Superintendent William Kinavey and Director of Operational Services Mark Cherpak.

[ Full story available at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08339/932497-55.stm ]