Palmerton school board approves CCTI budget
Carbon Career and Technical Institute is three for three in getting approval for its 2020-21 operating budget by sending school districts. Palmerton Area School District’s board on Tuesday night became the latest governing body to unanimously give the thumbs up to CCTI’s spending plan.
The $8.7 million budget is up 2.2 percent from last year, but Executive Director Dave Reinbold and Business Administrator Jeff Deutsch said this is the seventh consecutive year the school has not had an across-the-board increase to its sending school districts, which also includes Lehighton, Weatherly, Jim Thorpe and Panther Valley.
“Looking at our fund balance, we’re hopeful we can maybe absorb another couple of years without an increase to the sending districts,” Deutsch said. “Salaries and retirement are the brunt of our budget. Everywhere else we are seeing either modest increases or we’re staying flat. We have no outstanding contracts right now meaning all are salaries are tied to a contract. That gives us a pretty good idea of where our actuals will be.”
Palmerton’s share for 2020-21 is projected to increase 0.8 percent, or just over $16,000, which is due to five-year historical average enrollments. The district currently has 102 students attending CCTI, including 91 on a full-time basis and 11 half-time students. It is the largest enrollment among the five sending districts.
“I think it’s great that Palmerton offers its students the half-time option,” Reinbold said. “Full time may not be the best fit for option and it’s a benefit for students to have a choice.”
Barry Scherer, a Palmerton board member, asked Deutsch to outline CCTI’s fund balance, which currently stands at $3.5 million. That is coupled with a capital projects fund totaling $3 million.
“Our surplus at the end of the year has been steadily decreasing for the last five years, and that is because we haven’t asked for anything extra from the sending districts,” Deutsch said. “We’re at the point right now where we are actually forecasting deficits at the end of the year. For the current year, 2019-20, we’re projecting a loss of $100,000 to $200,000, which would be our first deficit in a decade.”
Before Palmerton’s unanimous adoption Tuesday, CCTI also received approvals from Jim Thorpe and Panther Valley.
