The parent company of Split Rock Poconos and Mountain Laurel Resort recently received a reduction in its annual property tax bill, ending a legal appeal that started in 2014.

The lowered tax assessment means that Jim Thorpe School District will lose about $475,000 in annual tax revenue.On Monday, the school board voted 7-0 to approve a settlement agreement with Stabilis Split Rock JV LLC, which owns the two resorts located in Kidder Township. Glenn Confer and Robert Huber were absent."They went to an assessment appeal to have this done, so we have to do it," board Vice President Pearl Downs-Sheckler said.The settlement will actually take effect retroactively to Jan. 1, 2015. It must also be approved by Stabilis and the Carbon County Board of Assessment Appeals.Weatherly School District has already approved a similar agreement for a 40 percent reduction in taxes for the Mountain Laurel Hotel & Spa, which is also located in Kidder Township, but outside the Jim Thorpe School District, school board solicitor Gregory Mousseau said.During the assessment appeal, the resort owners successfully argued that the assessments on three properties - the Galleria sports complex, the Willowbrook condo complex, and the Mountain Laurel Hotel & Spa, were too high.Properties are assessed by the county based on their market value. Property owners then have to pay taxes based on that amount.Stabilis conducted its own appraisal, showing that the fair market value of all three properties had dropped since the last appraisal, Mousseau said.By approving the settlement agreement, the school board and Stabilis agreed that the assessed value of the condos had dropped by 77 percent, and the Galleria sports complex by 27 percent.The new tax assessments will be $1,416,317 and $2,157,465, respectively.The impact on Jim Thorpe's budget is a loss of about 1 percent of its total revenue. But with a $40-million-plus budget and a fund balance of approximately $10 million, the district won't have to raise taxes on residents in order to cover the funds.District business manager Lauren Kovac said that the lost tax revenue may even be offset if the district receives more money from Harrisburg under the 2016-17 state budget.Kovac said the district should be OK with the money it will receive from the state, which is not taken into account in the current budget.The board also approved its 2016-17 budget Monday night. The property tax rate will remain at 45.52 mills.The budget proposes to expand the district's Olympian Learning Environment one-to-one computer program, by putting an Apple iPad in the hand of every student in grades K-6, and laptops in grades 7-8, adding to the laptops that were given to students in grades 9-12 last year.The budget calls for approximately $2.3 million from the district's fund balance to cover a shortfall. But Kovac said that the final number will be affected by the Split Rock appeal, the state budget, and the district's tax collection rate.