Looking into the crystal ball the answer is… possibly. But it all depends on Lower Mac. This is based on the districts summary of outstanding debt. My friend Mark Spengler presented an outline of the school districts outstanding debt last week. Here is a summary:
East Penn School District Summary of Outstanding debt.
2017: $13,998,754
2018: $13,498,225
2019: $7,972,918
This shows the school districts debt payments will drop dramatically in 2019. Basically, what Mark was demonstrating is that long range strategic planning has for a long time accounted for another major capital investment in a second High School or other major academic building. However the most recent demographics report compiled by the Pennsylvania Economy League shows that East Penn will likely experience declining enrollment over the next 10 years.This means that if we can avoid having to build a new school that in just a few years the East Penn School District would have a $6 million reduction in the budget.
Whether or not major capital expenses can be avoided depends primarily on… Lower Macungie Township. Our land use policies will dictate whether we need major school construction or not. This is why the current conversation about open space preservation must be centered around strategies to take developable residential land off the table. Farmland preservation is the best strategy for keeping local Lower Mac taxes predictably low and stable. But it’s also clearly the best chance we have to set the table for East Penn to actually lower taxes in 2019. Lower Macungie can help even more by focusing efforts on more valuable neighborhood commercial mixed use (vs. low value strip commercial) and incentivizing over 55 communities with a new conservation cluster ordinance.
Now admittedly, all this accounts for alot of variables falling into place. As we know school districts are at the mercy of the state year to year. But the fact remains two predictable variables are debt and enrollment. We can by and large control these two items. Based on that alone we have the potential for a golden opportunity. That is, if Lower Mac doesn’t go off the rails again.
Whether or not major capital expenses can be avoided depends primarily on… Lower Macungie Township. Our land use policies will dictate whether we need major school construction or not. This is why the current conversation about open space preservation must be centered around strategies to take developable residential land off the table. Farmland preservation is the best strategy for keeping local Lower Mac taxes predictably low and stable. But it’s also clearly the best chance we have to set the table for East Penn to actually lower taxes in 2019. Lower Macungie can help even more by focusing efforts on more valuable neighborhood commercial mixed use (vs. low value strip commercial) and incentivizing over 55 communities with a new conservation cluster ordinance.
Now admittedly, all this accounts for alot of variables falling into place. As we know school districts are at the mercy of the state year to year. But the fact remains two predictable variables are debt and enrollment. We can by and large control these two items. Based on that alone we have the potential for a golden opportunity. That is, if Lower Mac doesn’t go off the rails again.