Northern Lehigh School District will not go above the tax rate index in the event it opts to increase property taxes for the 2023-2024 school year.

On a 7-0 vote, the school board on Monday adopted the Act 1 tax levy resolution to not exceed the 5.5% index.

Directors Mathias Green and Michelle Heckman were absent.

In June, the board on a 5-4 vote adopted the 2022-2023 budget with a 2.5% increase in the property tax rate.

Sherri Molitoris, director of Business Affairs, Business & Human Resource Officer, said at that time that the 2.5% increase results in a millage rate of 24.0684 in Lehigh County, and a rate of 68.8022 for Northampton County.

She said that with a 2.5% increase, Lehigh County residents with a median assessed home value at $149,000 will see no increase in their tax bill, while Northampton County residents with a median assessed home value at $45,850 would pay $22 more.

Molitoris said that Lehigh County is assessed at 100%, while Northampton County is assessed at 50%.

She said that Lehigh County in 2018 went through a full county reassessment, so its reassessment values went from 50% to 100% - that’s why there’s a difference between the two counties.