Jim Thorpe Area School District plans to vote on its 2020-21 budget on June 29, one day before the state’s deadline for districts to pass their spending plans.

Some board members said they just received the final draft of the budget Tuesday night, while one member said that most of it has been available since May.

During the monthly meeting Wednesday night, the board agreed to hold a special meeting June 29. The board’s finance committee will meet at 6 p.m. Following that meeting, the full board will meet to approve the budget.

The board is finalizing the budget without knowing how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect local property tax revenue, or if the state will increase its annual funding.

“How can we realistically vote for something that we don’t even know. It makes no sense at all,” said board member Glenn Confer.

A proposed budget passed in May kept taxes the same as 2019-20: 45.52 mills. Under the proposed budget, the property tax bill for a home assessed at $50,000 would remain at $2,276.

However expenses have increased by at least 4 percent.

Interim business manager Joseph Surridge said if the district has a budget deficit, the board can use some of its $11 million fund balance. In 19-20, the budget included $3 million from the fund balance to make up a deficit.

Confer said the board can’t continue to rely on that money.

“You can only go to the well so many times with your fund balance. Eventually you’re going to come up with no water,” Confer said.

Surridge said that compared to other districts, Jim Thorpe receives less funding from the state, meaning they have to take more from local taxpayers.

Board members agreed, saying that Lehighton Area School District gets more basic education funding than Jim Thorpe.

Lehighton received about $9 million for the 2019-20 school year, while Jim Thorpe received about $3 million, Confer said.

“Lehighton has more business than we’ll ever have in our lifetime and they get more money. If we didn’t have a train ride through and tourism, we wouldn’t have nothing in our area,” Confer said.

Both districts receive state funds outside of basic education. According to 2019-20 budget figures, Jim Thorpe received $10.5 million in state funding, while Lehighton received $18 million.

In other business:

The board voted to extend the property tax payment deadline from Oct. 31 to Dec. 31. Taxpayers who pay between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 won’t be subject to a penalty.

The board agreed to a $72,500 contract with C&D Waterproofing Corporation to renovate the brick and stone facade on part of the high school. The work will take place on the original 1930 section of the building, which is currently leased to Lehigh Carbon Community College.

The board approved a contract with Carbon-Lehigh Intermediate Unit 21 for language translation services. The cost is $1.30 per minute for voice translation and $2.25 per minute for video translation services.