One day before the state mandated deadline, Lehighton Area School District’s board of directors narrowly passed its 2020-21 final budget during a special meeting Monday night.

The budget features a tax increase and massive cuts to arrive at a projected $41.14 million in revenue and $41.05 million in expenses.

Having not changed since Thursday’s finance committee meeting, the plan includes a 1.76-mill tax increase generating $580,376; a voluntary pay freeze by administrators saving $59,093, the elimination of the technology director and assistant business manager administrative positions, saving $154,189, the elimination of certain extracurricular programs due to COVID-19 concerns, saving $84,614, and the elimination of nonmandated transportation due to COVID-19 concerns, saving $992,810.

It leaves a proposed budget surplus of $91,053.

Voting for budget adoption were Larry Stern, Rita Spinelli, Steve Holland, Wayne Wentz and Nathan Foeller, while Dave Bradley, Gail Maholick, Richard Beltz and Joy Beers were in opposition.

The biggest cut involves transportation, with only special education students who have it as part of their individualized education program and students attending nonpublic schools currently slated to receive busing in the upcoming school year.

Buses still on table

Lehighton administrators were adamant, however, that it could change prior to schools reopening.

“We are still in talks with our contractor to determine if there is some level of regular transportation we can provide that would meet the guidelines related to COVID-19,” business administrator Patricia Denicola said. “We are also actively looking at any potential revenue sources to support a transportation program of some sort.”

If Lehighton had not adopted a budget by June 30, it would not have been able to spend funds until it did have an approved spending plan. With the budget now passed, Denicola stressed that the work to improve Lehighton’s financial status will not stop.

“We’ll continue to put forth the effort to bring back what we can,” she said. “The administration and professional staff are working hard to make sure we can continue to meet the community’s needs and look for ideas to get us back to point A.”

Bradley, who said the board received the proposed budget at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, said he created a balanced budget that included a tax decrease.

“We have sinking parcel numbers every time we raise taxes,” Bradley said. “We have sinking revenue streams when we raise taxes. All we have to do is put the benefits commensurate to the marketplace.”

Benefits, just as salaries for both professional and support staff, are set by contracts, Stern responded.

“We can’t put a budget together that just eliminates those when those contracts are in place,” Stern said. “The professional contract expires on Aug. 31 and the support contract is up next year. We have to work with those groups to see what we can do to make things better from a cost perspective.”

Bradley made a motion to table the vote on the budget until the board had a chance to further review it. The motion failed 5-4.

“I’m very disappointed you did not table it,” Barbara Bowes said. “I have nothing against any of you personally and I’ve never asked for your resignations, but now I do. I’ve had it. This is ridiculous. You put back in sports, cut busing and there is a pandemic.”

Middle school sports had originally been proposed to be eliminated, but were put back in the budget after administrators voluntarily took a pay freeze.

Parents’ concerns

Several parents addressed the board Monday night expressing their concern over the lack of transportation funding in the budget and, in many cases, wondered how they would make it home from work in time to pick up their children from school.

“What happens if there is an early dismissal?” Kerry Ketchledge Sitter asked. “How are those kids getting home? We all know you are using COVID-19 as an excuse to cut transportation so you can balance the budget.”

Cleaver said the district would make every effort to notify parents earlier than usual in the event of an early dismissal.

“We’re hopeful things look very different by the time school starts in regards to transportation,” Foeller said.

It is the second year in a row Lehighton has raised taxes after holding the line since 2014-15. The average tax impact across the district’s municipalities is about an extra $1.79 per week, Denicola said.

“Nobody wants tax increases, but unfortunately with the lack of proper state funding and continued appropriate funding of programs at the state level, our only revenue generation source is the local taxpayer,” Denicola said. “We know this presents challenges, however this budget is a balanced budget. It is the first balanced budget that I think is an attainable balanced budget for the district and we need the community’s support to get back our financial strength.”

Earlier in the night, Lehighton held a finance committee meeting where it went over budget options one more time before the full board vote.

“This is our worst year,” Spinelli said during the meeting, “and I hope and pray that we can get through this year and the revenues will stay stable and we can work something out with transportation.”