Palmerton Area School District’s board of directors adopted a $43.76 million spending plan for the 2026-27 school year Tuesday night with a 4.7% real estate tax increase that matches the maximum allowed under the state’s index.

The vote came as the state itself has yet to finalize its own budget, leaving Palmerton, like many Pennsylvania districts, to adopt a spending plan without knowing what state revenue it will actually receive this year.

Administrators framed the increase as driven by costs outside the district’s control.

“Our deficit is being driven by increases that every single school district in the state is struggling with,” Ryan Kish, assistant superintendent, told the board, describing the pressures as mandated fixed costs the district is legally bound to pay. Those costs include “skyrocketed health insurance premiums, which are dictated by multiyear collective bargaining agreements, rising special education costs, debt service, charter school tuition, and other unfunded state mandates,” he said.

The budget passed despite opposition from three directors. Brandon Mazepa, Erin Snyder and MaryJo King both voted no during a roll call vote, while Director Stacey Connell cast her vote in favor with visible reluctance, telling the board secretary “regretfully, yes” when her name was called.

Before the vote, board members weighed smaller alternatives. Kish told the board the 4.7% increase, equal to 3.01 mills, would generate $923,000 and bring the district’s projected deficit down to $849,000. A 3.8% increase of 2.5 mills, he said, would have generated $766,000 and left the deficit at just over $1 million. The average taxpayer impact, Kish said, would be $164 under the larger increase versus $133 under the smaller one.

Director Erin Snyder argued for the smaller option, noting Palmerton Borough had already raised its own taxes sharply this year and that many district taxpayers live within borough limits. Earl Paules pushed back on the idea of phasing in the increase gradually rather than taking the larger hike now.

“So you only want to break one of their arms this year and then the other one next year?” Paules said.

Mazepa, explaining his vote, urged residents frustrated with the increase to look past the board for a remedy.

“Until property tax reform is done, this will continue going on,” Mazepa said. “If you are upset by raising property taxes, the best thing you can do is not go to the local board or any school board, but reach out to your state representative — because that’s where the business is done, and it’s pushed onto your school board members to make a decision.”

He encouraged residents to contact state Rep. Doyle Heffley to press for reform.

Kish noted the increase follows two years of comparatively modest hikes.

“We did do a 0% tax increase last year and a 1.5% year before,” he said, adding that drawing further on the district’s fund balance to avoid a bigger increase now risked leaving the district unable to catch up in future years.

Board members also noted that other surrounding districts have had to take out loans during years when the state budget stalled, a step Palmerton has avoided.

Alongside the budget, the board also approved the district’s 2026-27 Homestead and Farmstead Exclusion Resolution, which uses state gaming revenue to reduce property taxes for 3,429 district homeowners by approximately $308 each.