Lehighton Area School District is looking to cut down a $2.92 million deficit as it heads toward the June 30 deadline for passing a final 2020-21 budget.

The board met in a special meeting Wednesday to pass a proposed final budget, which is required by the state to be done by May 31.

Business Administrator Patricia Denicola said as it stands, the proposed budget does not include a tax increase, but also leaves the budget unbalanced.

“The current proposed budget includes revenues of $40,118,423 and expenditures of $43,043,444, for a budget deficit of $2,925,021,” Denicola said. “It includes local revenues of $21,704,506, state revenues of $17,208,812 and federal revenues of $1,205,125.”

Revenue estimates, she added, are based on the latest available data. Business officials around the state have said they expect school districts to take a major hit in local revenue as a side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left many people out of work for months.

The proposed budget passed 5-4 on Wednesday with Larry Stern, Wayne Wentz, Rita Spinelli, Nathan Foeller and Stephen Holland voting in favor, and Dave Bradley, Joy Beers, Richard Beltz and Gail Maholick voting against it.

“It’s immoral to pass a budget where you are spending more than you take in, even if it is subject to change,” Bradley said. “It’s premature to do this right now, especially since the board has not seen a copy of the 2018-19 draft audit.”

Barbacane, Thornton & Co., the company who prepared the audit, is scheduled to present to the district on June 22, though Stern, board president, said the possibility of them presenting at the finance meeting on June 8 would be investigated.

Bradley called for a motion to postpone the proposed budget vote until the board had a chance to review the audit. It failed 5-4.

“This is a starting point to get to a balanced budget,” Stern said of the proposed budget passed Wednesday. “We have to know where we are. We’ll still get valuable information through the month of June to figure out what we need to do to reduce the deficit.”

During his critique of the budget, Bradley accused several fellow board members of not reading the budget, which he said they received earlier that afternoon.

“He can only speak for himself on that one,” Foeller said of the accusation. “He can’t speak for anyone else. I have reviewed it. It is obviously a work in progress. The proposed budget had to be passed tonight. We don’t have all the information yet. We’re passing it to comply with the state.”

Spinelli said she also took offense to Bradley’s comments.

“I looked it over,” she said. “It is preliminary. It will be changed. This is the opportunity where we get to see what is needed for the district. Now we decide what we need to keep and what we don’t need to keep.”

The budget includes federal CARES Act funding of $474,000, but Denicola cautioned that the one-time shot in the arm is likely to supplant revenue the district was already supposed to receive.

“Districts have been cautioned that the state may use CARES Act funds to supplant or replace basic education funding to school districts,” she said.

Expenditure increases in employee benefits and special education costs have been offset by decreases in construction and student placement costs for 2020-21, she added.

Barbara Bowes, a Lehighton resident, said she disagrees with putting out a budget that includes a deficit.

“There is a lot of work to be done and I wish this would have been started sooner,” she said. “I’m hoping the board can come together and pass a lawful budget by June 30.”