Tamaqua Area School Board’s finance committee on Tuesday defeated a motion that would have prevented the district from raising taxes beyond the district’s Act 1 tax level.

Business Manager Connie Ligenza said the district’s Act 1 Index is 3.3 percent, which equates to 1.21 mills, or about $365,724 in tax revenue.

Ligenza told the finance committee that it could either proceed through the prescribed budget timeline established by the state Department of Education, or pass a resolution to not raise taxes beyond the index for the 2018-19 fiscal year.

Ligenza said the possible exemptions the district would qualify for are in the areas of special education and the Public School Employees Retirement System, the two areas whose costs are beyond the control of the district and the board.

Board President Larry Wittig noted, “Historically, we have never gone (beyond) the index.”

“I can’t see us raising taxes to balance our budget,” Wittig said. “My personal opinion is we should not raise above the index.”

Ligenza said the advantage is it provides the board with more options.

Superintendent Ray Kinder agreed.

“The important thing with the vote tonight is, if we vote yes to this, there’s nothing we can do later on,” Kinder said. “This just leaves the door open to examine those things.”

Director Daniel Schoener said he had no problem with that recommendation.

“Leaving our options open is fine,” Schoener said. “We typically only raise when we absolutely, positively, have to.”

Kinder said the committee’s decision leaves the door open for the board to determine the best path at a later date.

He said it does not require them to raise taxes above the index, to the index, or at all; it simply allows them to further examine the needs of the district before deciding.

As a result, the board plans to grant preliminary budget approval next month.

In June, the board approved this year’s budget with a 1.2-mill increase, which raised the millage rate from 35.38 to 36.58 mills.

That meant a homeowner with a home valued at $100,000, which was assessed at $50,000, paid about $60 more to the district in property taxes.

Ligenza said the driving factors behind that increase were the employer contribution rate for the PSERS, cyber charter school tuition and capital projects.