With its back against the wall, Palmerton Area School District has approved next year's spending plan with a 1.94 percent increase in the property tax rate.

After three separate votes and some persuasion from Superintendent Scot Engler the school board on a 5-2 vote Tuesday adopted the 2014-15 budget with a 1-mill increase.On the third try, directors Darlene Yeakel, Sherry Haas, Josann Harry, Joshua Smale, and board President Tammy Recker voted in favor, with directors Barry Scherer and Clarence Myers opposed. Directors Susan Debski and Charles Gildner were absent.The initial motion to approve next year's budget with a 1-mill increase failed after only four board members approved it, with three others opposed.Recker, Haas, Harry and Smale originally voted in favor, with Scherer, Myers and Yeakel opposed.After that vote, Yeakel said, "I wanted to go for a zero (mill increase) and keep it (the millage rate) the same."At that, Myers made a motion to reconsider the budget at a 0.75-mill increase.Scherer said his fear is that due to the state's involvement, the district may in five years face the potential of a fund balance that's in the red.Instead, the motion by Myers was rebuffed by a 5-2 measure, with Recker, Scherer, Haas, Harry and Smale opposed, and Yeakel and Myers in favor.It was at that point when Engler interjected, and told the board that while it has weighed the situation on many occasions, it would be prudent for the board to reconsider its stance and approve a 1-mill increase due to the time constraints. The board had until June 30 to adopt next year's budget."I understand both sides of it; no one wins in a compromise," Engler said. "I would ask the board to reconsider its previous motion."Next year's budget calls for a $28.6 million spending plan that will raise the millage rate from 51.44 mills to 52.44 mills, and represents a $435,816 increase over the 2013-14 budget.That means a person with a home valued at $90,000, which would be assessed at $45,000, will pay $45 more in property taxes to the district next year.Similarly, a person with a home valued at $140,000, and assessed at $70,000, will pay $70 more, while a person with a home valued at $200,000, and assessed at $100,000, will pay $100 more.Next year's budget includes a new Ready to Learn Block Grant in the amount of $292,821 that has been proposed by Gov. Tom Corbett. However, that funding is not yet confirmed.The district will still have to utilize $471,389 from its fund balance. Salaries (38 percent) and employee benefits (23 percent) represent the biggest expenses in next year's budget.An additional high-school guidance counselor; two teachers at S.S. Palmer Elementary; a half-time high school science teacher; two speech therapists, one at Palmer/Parkside, and the other at Towamensing Elementary; technology improvements; new wrestling mats; new warm-ups for track and field; the reimplementation of a band adviser at the junior high/senior high complex; and six summer maintenance workers to work four days a week, seven hours per day, are all included in the budget.Last month the board, on a 5-4 vote, approved next year's proposed final budget with a 1-mill increase, but only after five separate roll call votes were taken.The district's Act 1 index was set at 2.8 percent for the 2014-15 school year, which equates to 1.44 mills, or a total of a possible millage of 52.88 mills. The total millage the district could have increased under the Act 1 index was 1.9948 mills.In February, the board approved a proposed $28.7 million budget, which would result in a 2.8 percent, or 1.44-mill, increase in the property tax rate.