Talks have begun on the Palmerton Area School District’s preliminary budget, but raising taxes is not something Superintendent Scot Engler wants to even consider at this point, and neither does the school board.

Engler and the district’s former business administrator Matt Sawarynski met with the school board in a committee workshop last week.Sawarynski has taken another job with Northampton Area School District, but since he had started the work on the budget, he attended the meeting to explain the details.Given the lack of funding from the state, since its 2015-2016 budget has yet to pass, planning for next year is difficult at best.“The mess that is the state budget plays havoc on our planning,” Engler said.Sawarynski told the school board that taxes and school security are key items to keep in mind as they consider the 2016-2017 budget. The millage rate for taxes in 2014-2015 was 52.4440. It increased by 2.6 percent, which is within the allowed index by the state. The 2015-2016 rate was 53.8075, as stated in that year’s budget.According to Sawarynski, the school district will see a 10 percent increase in the cost for health benefits. Salaries and benefits are expected to increase by a total of $973,194.According to the 2015-2016 budget, the total cost for salaries and benefits for regular, special education, vocational and other instructional salaries was $13,157,837. The largest portion of that budget was for regular instruction at a little more than $10.5 million.For the 2015-2016 school year, the Palmerton Area School District expected to have total expenditures amount to about $30.4 million. Sawarynski said he projects expenditures for 2016-2017 to be about $31.5 million.The school district’s total fund balance plus revenue sources for 2015-2016 were expected to be about $36.8 million. Of the fund balance, about $5.9 million was already committed or assigned to projects or costs. That left $1.2 million unassigned.In revenue sources, the school district expected to receive $18 million in local taxes, $11 million from the state and $542,275 from the federal government. From the state, $6.6 was expected to be for basic educational funding, $1.2 million for special education, and $1.2 million for the state’s share in the retirement contribution.No documentation concerning these figures for the 2016-2017 preliminary budget was available from the district.Sawarynski said the school district should expect to carry a 15 percent increase for the cost of retirement benefits. This is about $500,000 more. The medical cost for those in retirement did drop by about $1,000, he said.School districts statewide, by law, are expected to carry a larger percentage each year for their employees’ retirement funding. According to the Public School Employees’ Retirement System website, school districts were expected in a 2014 projection to contribute 25.84 percent toward their employees’ retirement funding for the 2015-2016 school year.That percentage is projected to increase to 29.69 percent in 2016-2017. The funding includes normal costs, pension rate and heath care. The PSERS projections show the school district contribution leveling off in 2019-2020 at 32.23 percent.With the state budget in limbo for the 2015-2016 school year, the district has not yet received any funding from the state. Sawarynski said Gov. Tom Wolf is actually supposed to unveil the 2016-2017 preliminary budget in February.Sawarynski calculated into the school district’s 2016-2017 budget an increase from the state of $525,000 that would help with expenditures. He also factored in an increase of $400,000 from the state Plan Con Fund, which is designated for school construction and renovation projects.Engler told the board that the admission of the $400,000 into the budget is a place holder for the funds.Sawarynski acknowledged to the board that it “looks like a very bleak situation.”On a positive note, he did say the school district has seen some savings and has managed to reduce its deficit by $700,000.