Jim Thorpe Area School District directors approved a proposed final 2024-25 operating budget with no property tax increase Wednesday night.

The decision to keep taxes level leaves Thorpe with a multimillion dollar deficit that would need to be covered by part of its anticipated $14.1 million fund balance to start the fiscal year.

Board member Gerry Strubinger made the motion to stay at the current millage rate, which Thorpe has done for over a decade.

“I think we have enough in the fund balance that we don’t have to put any new taxes out there,” Strubinger said last night.

Strubinger’s motion passed 6-1 and came after director Mary Figura’s motion for a half-mill tax increase died for a lack of a second.

The half-mill increase would have generated $325,732 in revenue and reduced Thorpe’s budget shortfall to $2.19 million.

During a workshop last month, Figura said she favored small incremental tax increases to help offset the rising separation between revenues and expenses, as well as avoid larger one-time millage increases in the future.

“We probably should have been doing small increments along the way,” Figura said in April. “Even a half a mill would have been good.”

As it stands, Thorpe’s projected revenues sit at $47.46 million, while its expenditures without capital improvements are estimated to be $49.92 million. When you factor in capital improvements, such as roof replacements and other projects including paving, sidewalks, windows and door hardware, the budget jumps to $51.02 million.

A projection Wednesday night showed that Jim Thorpe’s $14.1 million fund balance could dwindle to $20,312 by 2026-27, if no additional revenue is brought in.

“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 at a May workshop. “Almost 80% of the budget is salary and benefits. If you drain your fund balance, we’ll have to cut drastically.”

Other than future tax increases, Superintendent Robert Presley said possible future sources of income include a nearly $3 million state grant that would cover the cost of the district’s roof replacements and a cyber funding reform package that could bring $1.7 million back into the coffers.

“The cyber reform is the big one,” Presley said. “There is a bill sitting in the Senate Education Committee and it would save us $1.7 million. We have been pushing really hard for that, but it remains up in the air.”

The state has issued an additional $200,000 in the homestead/farmstead tax reduction program for next year. In Jim Thorpe, that means 4,200 property owners will see a reduction of $48 in their property taxes compared to last year.

Jim Thorpe’s budget will now go on review for 30 days and directors will have to take a final vote in June.