The Panther Valley School Board took another look at its 2024-25 budget Wednesday night, and approved a spending plan with tax increase for all taxpayers in the district.

The board convened in special session to approve the budget after a clerical error on the previous week’s agenda called the previous budget vote into question.

It also gave the five board members present an opportunity to review all three options discussed the previous week.

The board after nearly an hourlong discussion unanimously approved a $37.5 million spending plan that increases taxes 0.6 mills for Carbon County residents and 2.26 mills for Coaldale residents.

Board President Daniel Matika said voted yes on the condition the administration watch every single penny spent.

The board’s issue with the budget was the need to raise taxes due to a tax break the state gave to people through the Homestead exemption, which resulted in less revenue to the district.

Superintendent Dave McAndrew Jr. pointed out that 2,193 households in Carbon County and 565 households in Coaldale are seeing a tax decrease of $76.53 through that exemption.

“As that money got shifted in the Homestead Act, it got removed from our revenue,” he said.

That resulted in $186,000 in lost revenue for the district, business manager Jesse Walck said.

“So we have to make that money up and still move forward,” said board member Pat Leonzi.

The district is also dealing with a steadily increasing enrollment, which continues to drive up its costs to operate the district, Walck said. Board members also pointed out that inflation is driving up costs, too.

“Everything is going up no matter where you go. There’s nothing going down,” Board Vice President Shawn Hoben said, pointing out that school costs are up and continue rise because of inflation.

All school districts are grappling with is the uncertainty in the amount of basic education funding they’ll receive from the state, as legislators begin their budget process.

State funds in question

Panther Valley is also waiting to see increases through the fair funding lawsuit and decision, which Leonzi also pointed out as another issue affecting them as they look at their spending for the next year and beyond.

“The Republican Senate is holding up the fair funding money hurts us also,” he said. “I want to encourage every taxpayer in the Panther Valley School District to call our senator and ask why is this money being held up. Why are we not receiving our fair funding?

“I know they have their own budget to work on,” Leonzi said. “But we as a school district are being hurt tremendously by this … and now we’re sitting here having to make a decision as to how we are going to stay solvent going forward.”

Business manager Jesse Walck pointed out that administration wasn’t asking for any additional money than the previous year to operate the district in its proposed budget.

The budget proposal put forth by the administration, and ultimately approved, called for a tax increase for all taxpayers in the district to make up the $186,000 loss due to the Homestead exemption.

The tax increase wasn’t the same for all taxpayers, as those living in Schuylkill County saw a higher increase at 2.26 mills than those Carbon County at 0.6 mills.

The difference in the millage rates in each county is due to the difference in assessed valuations and the rebalancing formula from the state, Walck said.

Neither the district nor school board controls those numbers and legally can’t set the millage rate the same for each county, Matika said.

However, the board last week tried for some equity in adjusting the budget numbers to avoid a tax increase.

Options

The result was two alternative budget options - one with a $186,000 loss in revenue with no tax increase for Carbon County resident and a 1.01 mill increase for Coaldale residents and another with a $338,000 loss in revenue with a 1.75 mill decrease for Carbon County residents and no increase for Coaldale residents.

The board last week opted for the latter option with a tax decrease in Carbon County and no increase for those in Schuylkill County.

On Wednesday, with another opportunity to look at the budget, the board couldn’t justify the $338,000 revenue loss moving forward.

That revenue loss over 10 years would amount to more than $3.3 million, plus the loss in interest, Matika said. He and other board members said they don’t want to be in a position where they have to cut teachers or programs down to road, because of a shortfall.

“We have to stay where we are,” Hoben said.

Leonzi said the tax increase at 2.26 mills in Schuylkill County amounts to about $3 a month for the average household, and the .6 mill increase in Carbon is about a $1 a month for the average household.

“No one wants to do this,” board member Michael Alabovitz said as the board moved to approve a budget with a tax increase. “This is the job.”