Proposed OC school budget doesn’t include tax increase

There is no tax increase in the Oil City School District’s proposed budget for the 2021-22 school year.

Oil City School Board members discussed the spending plan at their meeting Monday, and the panel will vote on the tentative budget next week. The tax rate is projected to remain at 16.61 mills for the 20th consecutive year.

The proposed budget totals $35,892,782 in expenditures and $32,419,265 in projected revenues. The budget represents an increase of $958,688 from the 2020-2021 spending plan.

“I still have a lot of work to do on the budget,” business manager Susan Fisher told the school board Monday. “I don’t have final state numbers or federal numbers yet and I haven’t factored in the district’s COVID money yet,” Fisher added.

In other business at Monday’s meeting, high school principal Scott Stahl said the district has partnered with Rite Aid to offer a COVID vaccination clinic for students from 8 a.m. to noon Friday.

Students will be given the Pfizer shot, Stahl said.

The second shot would be scheduled for June 11, and if students can’t make it to the high school that day they can go to Rite Aid in Oil City, Stahl said.

Free food boxes will be given to families in the school district on Friday through a “Farmers to Families” program, Stahl told the board.

The giveaway is being conducted as a partnership between Oil City high and middle schools, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Catholic Rural Ministries, he added.

The food boxes will be handed out at 5 p.m. Friday to the first 650 families with students at Oil City high or middle school who arrive at the school.

Each box will include beef, chicken, or pork, some dairy products like milk, butter, and cheese, and vegetables, Stahl said.

In another matter, district solicitor Greg Merkel said the district’s bond issue is scheduled to close on May 26.

Updates were also given on graduation and other end-of-the-school-year events.

— The high school’s Swing Out concert will be held Tuesday, May 25, at 6 p.m. in Justus Park, and the middle school concert will be held Wednesday, May 26, at 6 p.m. in Justus Park.

— The Venango Technology Center graduation will be held June 3 with morning and afternoon ceremonies.

— Baccalaureate is scheduled for June 10 at 6 p.m. in the high school auditorium.

— Commencement will be held June 11 at 6 p.m. in the high school stadium, weather permitting. Otherwise, it will be held in the high school auditorium.