Palmerton Area School Board has been asked to omit any educational programs from the list of potential cuts to next year's spending plan.

The director of the Palmerton Area Library, as well as residents and teachers, were among those to voice their opinions on the 2011-12 budget to the board on Tuesday.Prior to the public participation on the budget, board President Barry Scherer announced that a budget workshop would be held in executive session this afternoon that is not open to the public.Scherer said the board will hold another budget workshop at 5:30 p.m. April 26 that will be open to the public.Diane Danielson, director of the Palmerton Area Library, read a letter from Josh Berk, district consultant for the Allentown Public Library, who urged that the district not cut funding to the library."The financial support we receive from the school district is extremely important," Danielson said. "Your financial support makes up to close to 10-percent of our total budget."Danielson said the state has cut funding to the library by 30-percent over the past two years, and that cuts in funding by the district could cause the library to lose $18, 810, or half, of its state funding.Kathy Augustine, president of the Friends of the Library, told the board the library has become a "community center.""The library is a very important structure we have in town, and it would be very a shame to lose it," Augustine said. "What a sweet resource it is for the community."Resident George Ashman noted that it could cost the district more over the long haul by way of services and expenses it would possibly incur if it chose to reduce funding to the library."I haven't heard any discussion on the teachers contract or fringe benefits," Ashman said. "It seems as though you've considered everything but."Resident Marian Hoffner, a retired teacher from the district, asked whether there had been any suggested cuts made to the district's administrative team.Scherer said that conversation was expected to occur at this afternoon's budget workshop in executive session.Hoffner noted that when she began to teach in the district back in 1977, there were only five administrators. At present, she said there are 10."Our staff hasn't doubled, the population hasn't doubled," Hoffner said. "I think before we cut things that directly affect our students, we need to look there."Scherer told Hoffner the board "will leave no stone unturned.""Everything is on the table," Scherer said. "We know we have a lot of work to do."Resident Chrissy Rehatchek pleaded that the board not make cuts to any music or arts programs."Music touches something in all of us," Rehatchek said. "Please, when you look at your programs, remember that our children are supposed to be our future."Bridgette Gorman, a teacher at S.S. Palmer Elementary, said she would pay whatever tax increase is necessary for the education of students."Cutting positions will increase class size, and if you eliminate teachers, you will have to increase class sizes," Gorman said. "I'm begging you, please do the right thing for the kids; it's about the children, because they are the future."Resident Mary Jo King said she and her husband have always been proud to say they were born, raised and graduated from the district."Now, I have three boys, and we're putting them through this district," King said. "I've always been very proud of the education they have received."However, King said the potential program cuts have caused her to worry."My pride has turned to fear for my four-year-old and other children," King said. "All of this will affect everyone in this room, because people will not want to move in this district, and people will have trouble selling their homes."Last week, the board held a four-hour budget workshop, at which time it came up with a potential one-third of the $1.5 million the district needs to cut to approve next year's budget with a 3-mill increase. No actual cuts were made by the board.At that time, about $454,105 worth of possible cuts were discussed. They included departmental cuts ($167,524); a reduction in high school athletics ($100,000); the elimination of a fifth grade teaching position at S.S. Palmer Elementary ($56,066); the elimination of five instructional aides - three at S.S. Palmer, one at Towamensing and one at the high school - ($56,000); a reduction in extracurricular activities district wide ($30,046); the elimination of drug testing funds ($10,000); a reduction in public library support ($3,350); a reduction in overtime for secretaries/bookkeepers ($2,931); the elimination of

S.O.A.R.S. funds ($731); and after school library services ($457).As a result, the board must still come up with another $1,099,451 worth of cuts to alleviate a $1.5 million shortfall that would still result in a 3-mill increase in next year's spending plan.The board is scheduled to adopt a proposed final budget by May 17. Final adoption is due by June 30.In February, the board, on a 5-4 vote, agreed to adopt a $27,388,661 preliminary budget that called for a 12.6-percent, or 5.5-mill increase that if approved, would raise the millage rate from 43.64 to 49.14 mills.Last month, the board looked over revised budget's brought forth by the district's administrative team, and were asked to suggest potential tax increases it could support. As part of their revised budgets, the administrative team came up with over $167,000 worth of cuts from their original spending plans.At that time, Donna Les, who has just been promoted from part-time interim acting business manager to financial consultant, told the board only $730,000 remains in the district's fund balance. Les said that revenues were at $26,187,118, while expenditures were at $27,026,000, which left an $838,882 shortfall.Les told the school board at a committee workshop last month that about $10,000 had been shaved off the district's preliminary budget. She said at that time the cuts would reduce the proposed spending plan from $27,388,817 to $27,378,655 due to medical insurance budgeted costs ($244,116); an athletic fund transfer ($133,545); and an increase in the IU Special Education Contract ($130,086).Other areas that were affected were a new technology position ($67,018); add impact of support staff contract ($58,918) cut new part-time secretary ($27,387); and cut facilities vehicle ($21,700), Les previously said.In January, Les reworked next year's spending plan in order to avoid an additional 2.72-mill increase on top of a 3.56-mill, or 8.15 percent, increase in the 2011-12 preliminary budget the board agreed to advertise for adoption in January.Otherwise, that would have increased the millage rate from 43.64 to 47.20 mills, which would have meant a person with a home valued at $100,000 and assessed at $50,000 would have paid $2,360, or about $180 more in property taxes next year.Les told the board at that time that of the $1.7 million the district had in its fund balance, only $730,000 remains after the other $923,000 was used to balance the current year's budget.The amount of money the district budgeted for its share of the 2011-12 CCTI budget was understated by about $351,060, Les said at that time. Also, the loss of $426,051 in federal program money would have required an additional 2.72-mill increase in the district's preliminary budget, she said.Les said revisions to next year's preliminary budget increased expenditures $555,498, from $26.8 million to $27.3 million, which represents a 1.95-mill increase over the initial preliminary budget.Superintendent Carol Boyce acknowledged at that time that a reconciliation of billing showed that the district has "been significantly under budgeting for the last several years." Les said the reconciliation was completed in November.In December, the committee met with each of the district's department heads as part of a pair of meetings in its attempt to craft next year's spending plan.As required by Act 1 of 2006, the board intends to seek approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, or the Carbon County Court, for all referendum exceptions for which the district qualifies.Les told the committee there were several referendum exceptions the district qualified for: special education, retirement contributions, and maintenance of local revenues.This year, homeowners saw a 3.9 percent, or 1.64-mill increase, in their property tax rates after the board in June approved the 2010-11 budget on a 5-4 vote that raised the millage rate from 42 to 43.64 mills.That meant a person with a home valued at $100,000, which was assessed at $50,000, paid $2,182 in property taxes to the district, $82 more than the $2,100 rate they paid in 2009-10 when the board passed a budget with a 2.44 percent, or 1 mill, increase that resulted in a $50 increase for residents with the same home value.