Meyersdale schools planning fieldhouse project

May 13—MEYERSDALE, Pa. — Meyersdale Area School District is eyeing a $1 million fieldhouse for its football stadium property.

The school's tentative 2024-25 budget shows taxpayers would help cover that cost next year.

Superintendent Tracey Karlie said school officials are planning to replace an aged concession stand on the property with a more centrally located one that would also include restrooms and locker rooms for the girls junior high and varsity track teams.

For decades, students and visitors have relied on portable toilets during games and other events because the only restrooms the field offers — at one end of the property — are under-sized, Karlie said.

He said the current concession stand, at more than 40 years old, is in "disrepair" — and the opportunity to build a new one also gives district officials the ability to add on-site storage space.

The site currently includes the school's football field, a baseball field and a surrounding track.

Karlie said the fieldhouse project itself is still in the planning stages, and it's too soon to speculate when the project would be advertised for bids.

The project will likely get underway sometime in 2025, he responded in an email to The Tribune-Democrat.

Karlie said the more than $117,000 generated by a proposed 2024-25 tax increase will help cover the cost.

For a Meyersdale Area taxpayer with a property assessed at $30,000, the 1.84-mill tax increase would add $55.20 to their annual school property tax bill, Karlie said.

The increased bill would grow by a smaller amount, approximately $22 a year, for the 1,765 property owners across the Meyersdale Area school community who are approved for Homestead/Farmstead exclusion, Karlie said, noting the average property within that pool has a lower assessed value.

As tentatively approved and now available for public review, Meyersdale Area school officials have a $17,740,968 spending plan for 2024-25.

That's just over $1.1 million more than the current year's budget. And the tentative budget anticipates a similar revenue shortfall compared to estimated expenditures, Tracey said.

Approximately $1 million of that amount accounts for the planned fieldhouse, he said.

Reserves alone won't cover that gap, with the 1.84-mill increase expected to make up the difference.

Karlie said other costs, including health care (5.17%), are also rising during a point Pennsylvania public schools — Meyersdale included — are seeing federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds come to an end.

"In addition, all costs are increasing, not staying level as noted with salaries and health care," he wrote. "The district continues to struggle to fill support staff positions due to our inability to provide competitive wages in those areas."

"This is a challenge," Karlie said.

The district also raised taxes in 2023.

But Karlie said Meyersdale Area still ranks as the third lowest of Somerset County's 11 school districts.

Meyersdale's tax rate would increase to 27.1 mills if given final approval by the board next month.

The board is scheduled to have the budget's adoption for its June 5 meeting.