Another split vote Monday on extending tax payment deadlines in Lehighton Area School District has everything remaining status quo, at least for the moment.

Two motions by director David Bradley, one of which would have extended the 2% discount period to pay property taxes to Dec. 31 and another that would have pushed the pre-penalty payment deadline to Dec. 31, both failed by a 5-3 vote.

“People are hurting and need this support,” Bradley said. “It would be a negligible impact to the district and a significant thing we could do for the stakeholders.”

Bradley, Gail Maholick and Joy Beers voted for the extension, while Wayne Wentz, Larry Stern, Nathan Foeller, Stephen Holland and Rita Spinelli were opposed.

Foeller said additional guidance is likely coming from the state on property tax deadline extensions and to take action prior to that would be premature. An extended discount period may mean more Lehighton taxpayers wait longer to pay their bills, creating cash flow issues for the district. To offset that, Foeller pitched a program where residents could apply for assistance, so the extension would not be across the board.

“That way, those who need help could get it, but those who don’t could still pay on the regular schedule,” he said. “We count on that tax revenue to stream in and help keep the bills paid. I think it would be much wiser to do the extensions on an as-needed basis.”

Lehighton has not provided a figure on how much money it feels it would lose out on by extending the discount period. Resident Barb Bowes estimated that if 80 percent of people pay during the period, the total cost to the district would be $69,086.

“I think the extension is certainly something that should be considered,” she said. “A lot of people are hurting and we already had a lot of families receiving free or reduced lunch.”

District Business Administrator Patricia Denicola said more data on the potential impact would be coming at the June 8 finance committee meeting. On Monday, she was critical of the state’s public school funding formula for putting so much of the pressure on local taxpayers.

“We have certain obligations as it relates to educating our students,” Denicola said.

“The state of Pennsylvania fails to properly fund education to our students, and that is the ultimate issue at hand. We are faced with many mandates with no ability to fund those challenges. There is no funding mechanism from the state to support local districts. It is a shame they choose to put the financial challenges of funding student education on the backs of local taxpayers, but that is the current situation we have.”

Under normal circumstances, taxpayers receive their bill around July 1 and have two months to pay the discounted rate and four months to pay without penalty.

Following the motion failing for the extended discount period, another 5-3 vote, along the same lines, nixed a pre-penalty extension as well.

Board members, however, said the issue is not dead in the water.

“I’m completely in favor of helping the community,” Stern, board president, said. “We have a six-week window to determine this before bills go out and it’s something we can continue to look at as more information comes in.”