Many local school districts are dealing with larger-than-normal deficits in their upcoming budgets due to a myriad of factors including increasing costs and stagnant funding.

Reynolds school officials are faced with the largest deficit -- $2 million -- in the county. Directors met Wednesday to discuss the shortfall and have not passed a tentative budget.

Superintendent Dr. Anthony Trosan said he plans to issue a news release this week that will detail the shortfall. He did say that several things have contributed to the deficit, including a decrease in state funding and declining student enrollment over the past four years.

Last year, county commissioners changed the property tax assessment ratio from 33.3 percent of a property's 1970 market value to 100 percent, decreasing all millage to a third of its former level but keeping the dollars amount intact. State law limits school boards to a 10-percent tax increase in the year following an assessment change.

Hermitage residents were warned Tuesday night by board member Jim Lumpp, who is running for the Democratic nomination in the 7th District against Rep. Michael C. Gruitza, that their taxes are going to increase.

"Your school and real estate taxes will be rising in Hermitage. I know the school taxes are," Lumpp said, citing a 13-percent increase in health care for district employees, increased debt service because of renovations, and teachers' salary increases.

The district's business manager, Eugene Fornadel, said the budget will be presented Monday but there is definitely a larger than normal shortfall in the budget. He declined to reveal a dollar amount.

Fornadel said the district is taking in less revenue than normal because there's a lack of new construction and interest earnings are down considerable. He added that all costs are on the rise.

Greenville Area School District had to wrangle with a budgetary shortfall of more than a half-million dollars in crafting its spending plan for the coming year.

The school board has discussed proposing a 2002-03 plan that calls for a 1-mill tax increase. The school board is expected to present a preliminary budget when it meets Monday.

Each mill generates about $94,000 for the district.

Despite the tax hike, the school board discussed reducing the size of its 2002-03 budget by about $50,000 compared to last year's $14.4 million plan.

One of the proposed cost-cutting measures was a decision to not fill three of the eight openings created by retirements, but cuts were made across the board, said Superintendent Dr. Patricia M. Homer.

Even so, the board is considering using more than $400,000 of its budgetary reserve to balance its plan. That move would leave about $962,000 in the reserve -- less than 7 percent of the overall budget. The state recommends that districts keep 10 percent of their budgets in reserve money.

Sharon City School directors must find a way to come up with $458,450 to balance their tentative $21.3 million budget.

Business Manager James Wolf said the deficit started at $1.5 million but he and a budget committee worked for about two months to reduce the amount.

Wolf, like other officials, cited increasing costs and lack of adequate funding as reasons for the shortfall.

Grove City Area School District is facing a $378,089 deficit in their tentative $21.8 million budget. Superintendent Dr. Robert Post said the cost of everything from cost of living to program expenses is rising.

One area in which Grove City has seen an increase is charter school costs, Post said. He said the district is paying for about 60 students to attend charter schools.

School districts only anticipate state funding to increase 1 percent in 2002-03, though the final state budget is not complete.

Grove City is planning to raise taxes 1 mill, or 3 old mills, and dip into the fund balance to make up the deficit.

Post said officials are also considering holding off on some requests for money to buy new equipment.

Mercer School Superintendent Dr. Lawrence Connelly said his district must make up a $150,000 shortfall to balance the upcoming budget. Connelly said the budget increase is fairly normal.

There have been increases in utilities, health care and especially in insurance, Connelly said. He said insurance alone could cost an additional $100,000.

Like others, Connelly said the district will only get an additional $40,000 from the state.

Mercer is going to propose its tentative budget Monday. Connelly said officials are trying to do everything they can to alleviate the problem, including "nickel and diming" items in the budget.

Connelly said the district doesn't have a proposed millage increase yet because it's waiting for the state budget in case there's a larger-than-anticipated increase in funding.

Commodore Perry School District is also facing rising insurance, retirement and salary costs that have left it with roughly a $200,000 shortfall to overcome, said Superintendent Oliver Rodax.

The deficit is larger than in years past and a 1 percent increase from the state will only give the district an additional $28,000 to work with.

"We're not getting as much subsidy as we normally had in the past," Rodax said.

Rodax said the district is going to use money from the fund balance along with a 1-mill tax increase to make up the difference between project expenditures and revenues, he said.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Kristen Garrett at kgarrett@sharon-herald.com

Herald Staff writers Sherris Moreira-Byers and Tom Fontaine contributed to this story.