Palmerton Area School District taxpayers will likely see a 2.6 percent increase in their property tax rate next year.

On a 7-2 vote, the school board this week approved the proposed final 2015-16 budget with a 1.36-mill increase, and expenditure total of $30,387,081.Directors Chuck Myers and Charles Gildner were opposed."I think our public can't afford a 1.36 (mill increase)," Myers said. He said he preferred to only have a 0.75- to 1-mill increase.Gildner said he also would have supported a 1-mill increase.Before the adoption of the proposed final budget, resident Maynard Silliman revisited discussion on the multipurpose turf field that's been pitched to the district as part of a potential $21 million districtwide renovation project.Silliman told the board his main concern is the football stadium, and the estimated $2.4 million cost of a proposed state-of-the-art multipurpose turf field."I'm very concerned about that," Silliman said. "I'd rather put that money for teaching."However, board President Tammy Recker assured Silliman that the board has not decided on anything at this time."We are working to do the very best we can," Recker said.If the board approves next year's spending plan with a 1.36-mill increase, it would raise the district's millage rate from 52.44 to 53.80 mills.That would mean that a resident with a home valued at $100,000, which would be assessed at $50,000, would pay $68 more in property taxes to the district next year.Resident Terri Roselli expressed her concerns.Roselli said that while a $50 or $60 increase in property taxes isn't extremely large, most people aren't receiving increases to afford it.Superintendent Scot Engler said the district is aware of that.Engler said it's unfortunate that the financial burdens that school districts face "are thrust upon the local taxpayers.""Our primary focus is the students," Engler said. "We're in a position (where) we have to keep our doors open."Director Susan Debski said she's among those who don't believe the district should spend money on the proposed turf field."I'd rather see it go to the teachers and programs," Debski said.Silliman said it's hard for the taxpayers in the district, especially the elderly."There are elderly people who can't scrape up the extra $50 or $60," Silliman said. "They're on fixed incomes."Business manager Matthew Sawarynski previously reviewed the budget with board members at a public budget meeting held earlier this month in the high school auditorium.Sawarynski said at that time that Gov. Tom Wolf's 2015-16 proposed budget calls for a $526,514 increase in special education and basic education funding.If that happens, Sawarynski said the district would still be faced with a $1.1 million deficit, which would take into account no tax increase.Even with a 1.36-mill increase, the district would still be faced with a $693,484 deficit, he said.A 1.36-mill increase would add $400,000 to local revenue, Sawarynski said.Final budget adoption is set to be approved when the board meets at 6:30 p.m. June 16.Last June, the board approved this year's budget with a 1.94 percent increase in the property tax rate. The board, after three separate votes, adopted the 2014-15 budget with a 1-mill increase.That budget called for a $28.6 million spending plan that raised the millage rate from 51.44 mills to 52.44 mills, and represented a $435,816 increase over the 2013-14 budget.