ADAMS TWP — Mars Area School Board approved the district’s final 2023-24 budget Tuesday, June 13, including a 4.15-mill real estate tax increase.

“For the final budget, no one ever wants to recommend a tax increase, but we’re outgrowing ourselves to the point that we have specific needs relative to increasing our capacity in our buildings,” superintendent Mark Gross said.

The increase includes salaries for 16 new district employees to meet those needs in addition to the anticipated expansion of the Mars Area Primary Center and Mars Area Elementary School.

“We receive very little federal funding or state funding,” Gross said. “Unfortunately, at Mars, to generate revenue for the future project for the expansion of buildings, that’s going to come from local sources, because that’s pretty much our major funding source.”

ADAMS TWP — Mars Area School Board approved the district’s final 2023-24 budget Tuesday, June 13, including a 4.15-mill real estate tax increase.

“For the final budget, no one ever wants to recommend a tax increase, but we’re outgrowing ourselves to the point that we have specific needs relative to increasing our capacity in our buildings,” superintendent Mark Gross said.

The increase includes salaries for 16 new district employees to meet those needs in addition to the anticipated expansion of the Mars Area Primary Center and Mars Area Elementary School.

“We receive very little federal funding or state funding,” Gross said. “Unfortunately, at Mars, to generate revenue for the future project for the expansion of buildings, that’s going to come from local sources, because that’s pretty much our major funding source.”

The board voted 5-1 with three absences.

Board members Kevin Hagen, Justin Miller, Lee Ann Riner, Sallie Wick and Jennifer DiCuccio voted in favor of the budget. Anthony DePretis, Megan Lenz and Nicole Thurner were absent.

President John Kennedy, the dissenting vote, said he did not believe the increase was warranted.

“I just didn’t believe in the tax increase this year, maybe for other years,” Kennedy said. “And we moved money into our fund balance this year.”

The estimated increase for the majority of property owners in the district is expected to be approximately $10 per month, with the increase taking effect July 1.

“No one would ever want this, but it’s the only way we’re going to get the money to make sure our kids have adequate space,” Gross said.

The board also approved a proposal by AstroTurf/Rekortan to resurface the track and all rubberized areas in the Mars Athletic Complex.

Keith Kernic, regional sales manager for the company, said the field was last resurfaced in 2011 — passing its 8- to 10-year life expectancy.

“After so many years, maintenance needs to be done on the track to give the track longevity and durability,” Kernic said.

He said he had recently inspected the track and concluded it was nearing the end of its life.

“If you were to go up to your track now, you’d see a lot of this black coming up through, so what that’s telling us is that the structural spray on top has to be reapplied,” Kernic said. “And essentially, it’s a polyurethane structural spray — it has rubber particles in there — and what that does is help keep the track together and it gives it more years of life.”

The project cost was $200,810 for the renewal.

“Essentially ... we would pressure wash the track, then we would line the fence — protect the fence — in your field with plastic, and then we would spray it,” Kernic said. “Two coats, reline it.”

According to Gross, the proposal was worthwhile given the wear.

“I was there with the athletic director today looking at it, and I think it’s a rhetorical question,” Gross said. “You’re doing the track, but also all of the areas where the existing material is.”

Kernic said the project is expected to take a week from start to finish and would be installed in July.

“You guys want to try to hang on to that track as long as you can,” Kernic said. “It’s starting to unravel, so now’s a good time to do it.”