With a May 31 deadline approaching for school districts around the state to pass proposed final budgets, Jim Thorpe Area School District directors decided Wednesday night they would need at least one more meeting before making a decision.

Board members unanimously tabled the proposed budget as administrators noted that at least a slight property tax increase, which would be Thorpe’s first hike in over a decade, could help the district avoid state subsidy reductions.

Jim Thorpe’s fund balance stood at $15 million at the end of the 2022-23 school year. A projected $1 million loss in 2023-24 would leave it at $14 million heading into 2024-25.

“The state is looking at our increasing property values and says you have the ability to fund yourselves through real estate taxes and you haven’t been doing it,” Business Manager Brian Off said. “I think that’s a key factor in why we should consider at least a small tax increase.”

In April, Superintendent Robert Presley said the district is getting $600 less per student from the state than it was 10 years ago because the district’s property values and median household income are rising while the poverty level is decreasing. During that time, however, taxes have never increased.

Thorpe’s proposed budget was around $49 million in expenses last month without accounting for any future capital improvement projects. That left the district with an estimated $2.5 million deficit.

“Our major increases have been personnel and medical benefits,” Off said at a workshop earlier this month. “Medical benefits are up 14% so that’s a significant cost driver. If you look to continue going without raising taxes, I think that would only be one more year. Our costs will continue to go up and revenue will not pick it up outside of increases in assessed values, which won’t completely catch us up.”

To take the sting off a potential tax increase, Off said property owners receiving a homestead farmstead reduction will receive an additional $48 off their tax bill in 2024-25. A half-mill increase would add around $50, making the net loss to taxpayers $2.

Even at a one-mill increase, Presley said, 95% of Jim Thorpe taxpayers would pay no more than an extra $100.

The projections were not enough to sway board member Gerry Strubinger.

“We have $15 million in the fund balance, I propose no new taxes,” Strubinger said.

Jim Thorpe could raise taxes a maximum of 2.95 mills, or 6.5%, which would generate almost $2 million in revenue.

“Sooner or later, something will have to give and we’ll have to cut programs and staff because you can’t keep running a $2 million deficit,” Presley said last week. “Almost 80% of the budget is salary and benefits. If you drain your fund balance, we’ll have to cut drastically.”