The state budget’s arrival brought Palmerton Area School District nearly a half-million dollars it did not know was coming when the board voted in June to raise local property taxes and that timing has administrators demanding change.

Ryan Kish, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance and facilities, told the board Tuesday night that the newly passed state budget delivers $465,000 in additional subsidy money spread across several state funding streams. The infusion cuts the district’s projected operating deficit nearly in half; from $849,000 to $384,000.

The relief, though welcome, landed too late.

“It’s great we got that extra money, but we needed to know that when we were passing our budget,” Kish said.

The board had adopted a $43.76 million spending plan in June with a 4.7% real estate tax increase, the maximum allowable under the state’s Act 1 index, while the state had yet to finalize its own budget.

When Kish presented the budget at a May workshop, he cited a 23% spike in health insurance costs adding more than $1 million to expenses, charter school tuition reaching $2.47 million, and rising special education costs as the primary drivers; all costs he described as mandated and largely outside the district’s control. The 4.7% increase costs homeowners with an average assessed value an additional $164 for the year.

Palmerton, like hundreds of Pennsylvania school districts, was forced to act in the dark.

Kish did not hide his frustration, posing a pointed question to the board.

“Would you have voted differently if the state did their job and passed their budget and told us the subsidy amounts prior to us passing our budget?” he said, adding that he did not want an answer on the spot.

At least one board member suggested the answer was yes.

“I think I can speak for us, but I think people have voted very differently on that,” Dr. Stacey Connell said.

For Kish, the real issue is systemic.

“We need to demand more accountability from our elected officials,” he said, “because playing the guessing game every year with our subsidies is unfair to our districts and our taxpayers.”

Board President Sherry Haas said Palmerton has allies.

“There are 13 other districts that I know will be more than happy to assist us and join us in that, because they all said the same thing at the IU meeting,” she said.