Its 2023-24 budget, if passed as proposed, will mark a decade since Carbon Career and Technical Institute has asked for more money from its five sending school districts.

One Palmerton Area School District director, however, said CCTI’s healthy fund balance actually means it should be giving money back.

“We keep hearing there is no increase, but you’re sitting on a lot of money without any capital projects on the horizon,” Palmerton board member Earl Paules, who also sits on CCTI’s joint operating committee, said during a board workshop Tuesday night. “I’m not saying you aren’t a great school, but stick to your policy of having your fund balance at between 4-8% of your expenditures.”

CCTI Business Manager Jeffrey Deutsch said while the school does have around $4 million in its fund balance, roughly $2.3 million of that is committed for items such as post-retirement employee benefits.

“The $1.7 million is the unassigned money we have to work with and that is there because we do have some capital expenditures that may be coming up and we’re looking to offer some more programs that may eat that up pretty quickly,” Deutsch said. “Any refund would be a JOC decision and would then most likely have us coming back to you to ask for more money every year, which is something we’ve been trying to avoid.”

CCTI’s proposed 2023-24 budget stands at almost $9 million. Palmerton’s contribution, Deutsch said, is set to decrease based on five-year enrollment trends compared to other districts.

“We’ve been able for 10 years to not ask for an overall increase from sending districts, but we are moving toward a deficit mode when it comes to our budget,” Deutsch said.

The school ran a deficit in the 2021-22 school year for the first time in nearly a decade.

“We might have a surplus this year, but the projection is we’ll go right back to a deficit,” Deutsch said.

Paules argued that other technical schools in the state refund money instead of holding it in a fund balance. Sitting on money, he said, without a timeline of when it might be needed means “districts are overpaying.”

Deutsch said CCTI’s enrollment, around 400 students, is at its highest ever and waiting lists continue for popular programs such as cosmetology and culinary arts.

“We’re in the early stages of adding some classrooms and that is going to cost money,” he said.

Not every Palmerton director was in favor of calling for a refund. Brandon Mazepa, who worked at the school through his role with Lehigh Carbon Community College, said he’s been in on meetings regarding adding programs and feels things are headed in the right direction.

“There is an ebb and flow and we would be taking money away from our students who could be benefiting from additional programs,” Mazepa said. “It might not happen today or next year, but we have to look toward the future. I think that what CCTI is doing is remarkable. They are one of the best technical schools in the state. Keep doing what you’re doing.”

Four out of the five sending school districts must pass CCTI’s budget for it to become official.