Business Administrator Robert Bruchak asked the Salisbury Township School District Board of Directors for a decision on passing a resolution to stay within the Act 1 Index at the Dec. 2 operations committee meeting.

Bruchak explained Act 1 is legislation passed in 2006, part of a property reform law, which limits school districts on how much they can raise taxes.

If the board voted to stay within the Act 1 index, taxes could not be raised more than 2.4 percent of the millage rate without going to a referendum on the primary ballot. Bruchak estimated a 2.4 percent increase would provide the district with $540,566.

The decision was needed Dec. 2 to be put on the agenda for the Dec. 16 meeting.

If the board adopted the resolution to stay within the Act 1 Index, the state needed to be notified by Jan. 7, 2016, 120 days before the primary election April 26, 2016.

The primary election is early this year due to the presidential election.

If the board voted against a resolution to stay within the Act 1 Index, a preliminary budget must be adopted by Jan. 27, 2016.

Bruchak said a preliminary look at the budget shows total projected revenue for the 2016-2017 budget of $34,332,388. Of that amount, $26,993,312 is local, $7,122,866 is state and $216,210 is federal revenue. Bruchak said these numbers are estimates because no state budget has been passed for the 2015-2016 school year.

Expenditures are projected at $35,390,292 keeping all programs status quo and the only increases are for salaries and benefits.

Projections show a difference of $1,057,904.

Bruchak said revenues will not be finalized until Governor Tom Wolf releases the budget and assessment appeals are settled. He also said expenditures have not gone through administrative review for cost containment or saving measures.

On a positive note, Bruchak said the school board directors assigned $500,000 toward the 2016-2017 budget and also assigned $699,975 to the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System knowing costs would increase by 29 percent.

After reviewing the preliminary budget numbers and concerned there is still no state budget, the board voted to not pass a resolution to stay within the Act 1 Index.

Board member George Gatanis said it is important to keep the option open to not raise taxes at all.

“This is the year to help out the taxpayers. This is our opportunity,” Gatanis said.

The official vote will be taken at the Dec. 16 board meeting. A detailed preliminary budget will be presented at the Jan. 4, 2016 operations committee meeting. Approval of the preliminary 2016-2017 budget is expected at the Jan. 13, 2016 meeting.

In other business, a second reading was held on the wellness policy and Supervisor of Accounting Dawn Nickischer provided clarification on parts of the policy. Nickischer said according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the government will soon require school districts to do more with nutrition in school and the community. If food is offered as a reward, the snack must be in compliance with the smart snacks nutrition guidelines. The policy also states food shall not be used as a punishment.

The committee voted in favor of a pre-authorization resolution allowing Lehigh Carbon Community College to move quickly on real estate acquisitions. The college is in need of additional space in the downtown Allentown area and has the money set aside to acquire property. The college needs the approval of the sponsoring districts which can sometimes take as long as six months which “handicaps” the college in securing an agreement to purchase a site. The approval runs through Dec. 31, 2016. There is no additional cost to the district.

Lastly, Superintendent Dr. Randy Ziegenfuss was contacted by KidsPeace asking the district to share in the cost of securing an engineer to determine the cause of an issue with the pool which is used by the Salisbury swim team. The bill for the engineer is $1,125, half of which would be paid by the district.

The issue with the pool is the rapid loss of water.

The district pays $12,000 to KidsPeace for use of the pool for four or five months each year.

“The relationship is valuable,” Ziegenfuss said.

The committee voted to share the expense of the engineer.

“We are not committing to be a part of the solution,” Board Vice President Sam DeFrank said.

“We need to know the facts,” Board President Frank Frankenfield said.