Discussion continued this week in Lehighton Area School District as to whether the governing body would create a policy requiring taxpayer input before the district incurs debt for construction projects.

Board President Joy Beers said after consulting with the district’s legal firm, Fox Rothschild, Lehighton learned it can’t legally create a policy more restrictive than what state law allows.

“The threshold is very high, based on cost per student,” she said last month. “You could have a project that costs $25 million and it still wouldn’t require a referendum.”

Under the current Pennsylvania formula, the state determines referendum thresholds based on a “per-pupil construction cost” tied to rated pupil capacity. For elementary school projects, the construction cost threshold is set at approximately $4,700 per rated pupil, while secondary schools use $6,200 per rated pupil, according to a state PlanCon website.

The calculation involves converting full-time-equivalent capacity to rated pupil capacity, multiplying that by the per-pupil rate, and comparing it to project bids to decide if a referendum is mandated.

Beers said last week the district could, however, look at a policy for referendum’s related to incurring debt.

“(Solicitor Jeff Sultanik) recommended that we look at policies from other districts, and we can control the use of fund balance and the creation of debt,” Beers said. “I think there’s value in creating a policy or resolution to that effect. You can even trigger a referendum vote on the creation of debt.”

Several board members weighed in on the issue during the workshop meeting. Questions arose about the potential cost of drafting such a policy. “Depending on the cost of writing the policy and the legal work involved, I don’t know if it would be worth it,” Director Barbara Bowes said. “I would hope future boards would keep it in place, but they don’t have to. You could be incurring costs for something that could just be undone with another motion.”

Lehighton first broached the topic last month, when Beers suggested the district look at sending expensive construction projects to a referendum.

Others, such as board member Duane Dellecker, stressed the importance of ensuring taxpayers have a voice before the district commits to long-term financial obligations.

“I’m in favor of something that says if you want to go into debt, put it to the taxpayers,” he said.

Without any policy in place, Dellecker warned, “the board, with a simple majority vote, can do what they want without breaking any policy, because one doesn’t exist.”

“As far as I’m concerned, every one of the nine members of the board should approve it before we go into debt,” he said.

No formal board action has been taken.