Tamaqua Area School District has chosen to postpone the final phase of its high school roof project in an attempt to whittle down its budget deficit.

Several budget reductions in the 2017-18 spending plan were discussed at the school board's committee meeting on Tuesday several weeks after the board was told it faced a $2.9 million deficit.Business Manager Connie Ligenza highlighted three budget reductions that would result in a $623,216 savings.Ligenza said postponing the roof project would save the district $438,216.Superintendent Ray Kinder said the plan for the roof is to do maintenance if needed.Kinder said the district would look to hold off until next year to address the project, and if something would go wrong in between, use the district's fund balance.Chief Operations Officer Ken Dunkelberger said the roof was scheduled for replacement three years ago.Dunkelberger previously said the roof is in need of repair due to its age and the fact that it leaks.Another budget reduction that was discussed was eliminating the assistant principal to the special education director position, which is currently vacant, and would save the district $115,000.The summer/seasonal staff pool budget would be reduced by $70,000, from $100,000 to $30,000. The district uses this pool of money to hire summer staff that works on a variety of projects in its buildings and on its grounds, such as summer cleaning and maintenance.Those three reductionswould lower the district's deficit from $2.9 million to $2,284,943.However, even with those reductions, the board could still face a 1.2-mill increase.Kinder said the cuts to the budget would not only reduce the board's deficit, but also bring its projected fund balance to about $1.3 million."We're definitely a lot closer than we were before," Kinder said.Ligenza previously said 1 mill will generate about $331,426 for the district in the 2017-18 school year.In December, the board agreed not to increase taxes above the Act I index of 3.4 percent, which equates to 1.2 mills, or about $362,212 in tax revenue.If the board were to approve the budget as it stands now with the proposed increase, it would raise the millage rate from 35.38 to 36.58 mills.For a homeowner with a home valued at $100,000, which would be assessed at $50,000, they would pay about $60 more to the district in property taxes.Ligenza said the driving factors behind the proposed increase are the employer contribution rate for the Public School Employees Retirement System, cyber charter school tuition and capital projects.The board is scheduled to adopt the preliminary budget on May 16, with final budget adoption slated for June 20.Last June, the board approved this year's spending plan with a 1.09-mill increase in the property tax rate.That decision increased the district's millage rate from 34.29 to 35.38 mills, and called for a homeowner with a home valued at $100,000, which would be assessed at $50,000, to pay $55 more to the district in property taxes.The final budget left the district with a $2.12 million deficit, meaning it had to use $1,923,000 from its fund balance to balance the budget.Ligenza said the increase was due primarily to the capital needs/improvements of its buildings on the board-approved list of additional items.