HEATHSVILLE— The Northumberland school board on Monday, March 27, received support and gratitude from staff during its final public hearing on a proposed budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
After amending the figures to account for additional projected fuel costs as well as additional health care packages for bus drivers, the proposed budget totals $23,986,492. According to superintendent Dr. Holly Wargo, this is an 11.2% increase, or an increase of $2,420,220 over last year’s budget.
Increases
Wargo discussed several major increases to the budget including a proposed 5% increase for all employees, a 1.25% step increase for scaled employees and a health insurance increase of 9.9%.
Wargo also noted an additional $120,000 towards fuel prices, $368,476 for health insurance and related benefits for school bus drivers, $134,844 for three school security officers, $27,000 towards a crisis alert system, $116,130 towards a speech pathologist, $15,000 for Frontline services, and an additional $10,125 for participation in the Chesapeake Bay Governor’s School….
