The calendar turning to January means decisions for local districts on whether or not they will stay below the Act 1 index determined by the state for any potential property tax increases in the 2022-23 budget.

Lehighton Area Business Administrator Edward Rarick said during a finance committee meeting Monday night that the current index for LASD is 4.7%.

Should Lehighton vote to stay within the index when the school board meets again Jan. 24, that would mean property taxes can’t be raised more than 4.7%.

“It’s advantageous to vote to stay within the index because it keeps the district from having to do a preliminary budget for the Pennsylvania Department of Education earlier in the year,” Rarick said.

Lehighton has routinely voted to stay within the Act 1 tax in the past.

That number was 4.2% in 2021-22, 3.6% in 2020-21 and 3.2% in 2019-20.

In 2021-22 and 2020-21, Lehighton raised property taxes to those 4.2% and 3.6% allowable amounts.

Rarick said the district’s work on the 2022-23 is picking up steam.

“We’re at the part of the process right now where we’re heavily engaging with the different groups involved and the conversation is speeding up quickly,” he said. “I think it’s fair to say we’re much further ahead at this point than where we were last year at this time.”