The addition of a full-time high school music teacher is among the highlights of Palmerton Area School District’s first 2023-24 budget proposal.

Unveiled at a school board workshop Tuesday night, the budget calls for $38.82 million in total expenditures, a 1.3% increase over the current year.

High School Principal Paula Husar said a teacher solely dedicated to her building is necessary if Palmerton wants to avoid turning kids away from the music program.

“We’re seeing tremendous growth at every level, elementary through high school, and at the rate we’re going, we’ll have 80 students in our band before long,” Husar said. “While this is a great problem to have, we can’t manage that when our music teacher is only here for one block and then goes down to the elementary school. We had a full-time music teacher when I started here, but that position was cut around three superintendents ago and has not come back.”

Last year, Palmerton had 30 students in its marching band in grades 7-12. That number blossomed to 41 this year.

With a full-time teacher, Husar said, the high school is hoping to offer new electives including a music theory course. Malia Mueller, who was hired before the 2021-22 school year, would handle concert band and the potential return of jazz band.

Palmerton Director Sherry Haas, one of the longest tenured school board members, celebrated Tuesday how far Palmerton’s music program has come over the last decade.

“When I came on the board, we had no marching band, no jazz band, nothing,” Haas said. “It had all been cut. I am so proud of what we have done for the arts for our kids in this district. There are so many studies about how the arts help students. To see the growth we are experiencing takes the words right out of my mouth.”

Other Budget Details

Palmerton’s major proposed increases in the 2023-24 budget are salaries, up $386,000 over last year; Public School Employees’ Retirement System contributions, up $115,000; medical benefits, up $400,000; and charter school tuition; up $600,000.

“The charter/cyber increase is based on current tuition and enrollment rates,” Ryan Kish, Palmerton’s business manager, said. “There were some budget assumptions made last year as far as students returning, but those numbers did not move as expected.”

Kish said Palmerton pays between $15-17,000 when one of its regular education students opts to attend an outside charter/cyber school and around $35,000 per special education student.

Aside from a new music teacher, factors playing into the 1.4% expected jump in salary payments, according to Kish, are several unbudgeted staff positions added in 2022-23 including a speech teacher and an instructional assistant.

Negotiations are also ongoing with the Palmerton teachers’ union. For budget purposes, Kish said a 3% salary increase was included in the 2023-24 spending plan.

Benefit payments are projected to decrease slightly by $46,000.

“We estimated a $128,000 reduction in tuition reimbursement requests based on trends we are seeing,” Kish said. “Our retiree medical expenses are also expected to drop by around $150,000.”

Although Palmerton’s pension contribution rate is decreasing from just over 35% to 34%, the district’s overall PSERS payments are set to rise $115,000.

Property taxes

As of Tuesday, Palmerton was facing a $1.2 million budget deficit. If the district raised property taxes by 5.5%, the most it is allowed to under the state’s Act 1 index, it would generate $1.04 million in additional revenue. That would leave around $170,500 to be pulled from the fund balance to level the budget.

A full 5.5% property tax increase would result in an additional $150 property tax payment, on average, for Palmerton landowners.

“We’re very early in the process,” Kish said. “These numbers are going to change by the time May and June rolls around, but it does give an idea of where things are at today.”

The district will continue working on the budget through the May school board workshop, when the next public presentation is scheduled.

Pennsylvania requires all school district budgets be approved by the end of June.