Northern Lehigh eyes 3% tax increase

Northern Lehigh School District may raise the property tax rate by the maximum 3 percent and utilize a portion of its fund balance to help offset a projected $2.6 million budget shortfall.

Superintendent Matthew J. Link discussed the 2019-20 proposed preliminary budget with the school board Monday night.

The increase amounts to $462,910.

Buildings

Link said more than 130 kindergarten students are expected in the 2019-20 school year.

He said that the district’s support staff is expected to increase by two, while its professional staff is expected to decrease by one.

At Peters Elementary, Link said the district may need to transfer one full-time teacher from Slatington Elementary. While playground equipment upgrades are desired, he said they aren’t required at this time, though administration is looking for potential grant funding to purchase and install new equipment.

Northern Lehigh Middle School will need a half-time social studies teacher to instruct one section for seventh and eighth grade to reduce class size, which would result in the transfer of a full-time social studies teacher from the high school to instruct these sections at no additional cost.

One full-time math teacher is retiring.

Department budgets

The district anticipates a $232,000 increase concerning the 2019-20 Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit budget due to increased enrollment of students with special needs. If additional students move into the district with increased needs, the district would need to utilize fund balance.

The transportation department shows a near $314,000 increase as the result of additional runs due to outplacement of students with special needs and disciplinary placements, transportation of homeless students, and increased fuel costs.

The technology department is expected to increase by over $58,000 due to a rise in leasing costs, as well as an increased cost for bandwidth at Slatington and Peters elementary schools.

Other driving factors are the 2018-19 outplacements increased by $109,000, which resulted in additional increased cost for students with special needs, and additional increased cost due to outplacements for disciplinary issues; an increased cost of $100,000 for the Lehigh Career & Technical Institute based on a five-year student enrollment average; and a $390,000 rise in the cost for cyber charter school ($385,000 increase) and brick-and-mortar charter school ($5,000 increase) tuition.

Impact on property owners

Link said at 3 percent, the annual tax increase on a median assessed home for Lehigh County is $85, and for Northampton County $96.

The median assessed value for Lehigh County is $148,500, while the median assessed value for Northampton County is $46,050.

The district has agreed to spend from the fund balance $540,000 on high school science rooms/labs; expects to spend $175,000 for six classroom sets of furniture for the high school science rooms; and about $320,000 for network switches and an undetermined amount on classroom tile floors at the middle school. The district is in the process of getting quotes for the floors.

The district also has other long-term projects mapped out in the years to come.

“This is a guide,” Link said, adding that it isn’t locked in to all the long-term projects as listed.

Sherri Molitoris, co-director of business affairs/human resources, said local revenue includes the use of fund balance for science lab and technology upgrades along with the tax increase of 3 percent per the Act 1 Index.

Total expenses for the 2019-20 school year come in at $36,137,966, while total revenues are at $33,977,703.

The budget includes $1,035,135 for one-time purchases for science labs and technology upgrades. She said $1,902,520 is needed to balance the budget, which along with a $257,743 increase in PSERS costs, makes up the $2.1 million budget shortfall.

Molitoris said the ending fund balance in 2019-20 if the district uses $3,195,398 from its fund balance, would be an estimated $5,977,393.

She said potential additional revenues not in the current numbers include the governor’s proposed budget ($83,934 in Basic Education Subsidy increase, $50,107 in Special Education Subsidy increase); a federal government subsidy ($71,441), for total possible additional revenues of $205,482.

The district will continue to look for opportunities to decrease expenditures and/or increase revenues (transportation, student outplacements, potential additional retirements, investing and tuition reimbursement); and to utilize fund balance to cover additional deficit for the 2019-20 ($1,902,520) budget, and for long-term planning Public School Employees Retirement System expenditures ($257,743).

Molitoris said that salaries and benefits make up 62 percent of the budget.