Despite increased home sale prices, Panther Valley’s property tax revenue is predicted to drop this year. School board members support a property tax increase to help make up for the lost funds, but disagree on the amount.

“Some commercial properties have come down, and Silberline was taken by Lansford borough. That comes right off the assessed value,” the district’s business manager, Jesse Walck, said.

School board members split over two budget proposals Wednesday night. Unable to agree, they decided to hold a special meeting later this month to take another attempt at passing the budget.

The budget under consideration includes $30.9 million in expenses. That is $3.2 million less than the 2021-22, That budget used COVID relief funds so the district could save some of its tax revenue, and apply it to future years’ budgets.

This year, revenue is still about $1.6 million less than expenses. The district would pull most of that money from its fund balance.

Four board members - Renee DeMelfi, Steven Foster, Shawn Hoben and Keith Krapf - supported a budget which would have brought in the same amount of property tax revenue for the district as the previous year. The budget would have raised taxes for Carbon County residents by 0.07 percent, to 65.92 mills. Schuylkill County residents would have seen a 2.9 percent increase, to 61.79 mills.

The board members said they could not support a greater tax increase on district residents.

“We can’t do it to our families. Absolutely not. Not right now,” DeMelfi said.

Three other members - Marco D’Ancona, Bill Mansberry and Danny Matika, supported a budget that would have brought in an additional $76,000 for the district. That budget would raise taxes in Carbon by 1.5 percent, and in Schuylkill by 3.7 percent.

They said they felt that the larger increase was necessary to continue to fund the district’s programs.

“We’re up against it. We have to get some money back in,” Mansberry said.

The board members did not consider a budget without a tax increase. Walck said that the district cannot afford it.

Krapf took issue with Walck presenting the budget as a “zero-mill” option because taxpayers would still pay more.

Walck said that it was called that because of how much the district’s tax revenue would change.

“I don’t want to mislead people,” Krapf said.

The date for the board’s special meeting hasn’t been set.