The Hamburg Area School Board voted 6-1 on June 19 to approve a $42,004,489 budget for the 2017-18 school year.
The board also agreed to increase property taxes to 26.96 mills, a .25 mill increase. This marked the ninth consecutive year that the district has increased property taxes by .25 mills.
A property assessed at $100,000 will cost the homeowner $2,696 in property taxes, a $25 or 1 percent increase.
The final budget reflects a deficit of $1,461,366 which the district plans to cover from its fund balance, according to Business Manager Michele Zimmerman.
School director Lolly Lesher cast the dissenting vote.
“I think we’re wrong (by) asking residents to pay more when we’re giving businesses moving into the area a tax break,” Lesher said. “More will be coming and asking.”
During the public comment period of the meeting, William Palmer, who owns two farms in the district, told school directors that there should not be a tax increase this year.
“You’re carrying a $14 million fund balance,” said Palmer, who is also a school director in the Tulpehocken School District. “You gave teachers a five-year contract (with increases) above the county average when you didn’t have to and you approved a LERTA, giving a tax break to an incoming business. It’s not good to increase taxes in the same year and have it taken out of the taxpayers’ pockets.”
The district’s fund balance was $14,634,236 as of June 30, according to Zimmerman.
Increases in retirement costs, charter school tuition, medical insurance and salaries along with funds set aside for special one-time purchases were the main drivers in expenditures.
In other news, school directors named Timothy Easter to the newly created position of Middle School Dean of Students, effective July 1 at a salary of $83,000. Easter was a social studies teacher at the middle school this past year.
School directors eliminated the co-principal model used at the middle school during the past year and will now operate with a principal and a Dean of Students.
Dr. Shawn Fitzpatrick, former principal at the middle school, attended his final meeting before moving into his new position as Superintendent for the Schuylkill Haven School District and addressed the group.
“I’ve had 14 wonderful years here,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s easy to walk away from a school district heading in the wrong direction, but hard to walk away from one heading in the right direction as Hamburg is. Tonight, school directors made some difficult decisions, but it was done in the best interest of the students.”
The next meeting of school directors will be Monday, July 17, at 6:30 p.m. in the James A. Gilmartin Community Room. School directors agreed to cancel the July 10 and July 24 meetings and hold one meeting in its place.
