By SUSAN RUMBLE

Special to The Press

Parkland School Board directors, at their Jan. 21 meeting, voted to stay within the allowable Act 1 Index of 4.0 percent.

The action means the district will not raise taxes above 4 percent, a rate calculated for Parkland by the Pennsylvania Department of Education for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

The resolution does not commit the board to raising taxes but sets the upper limit for an allowable increase,

Last year’s Act 1 Index was 5.3 percent, and the board settled on a 5 percent rate of increase for the 2024-25 budget.

Previous millage increases were 2.5 percent in 2023-24 and 1.20 percent in 2022-23.

Parkland had no tax increases during 2020-21 and 2021-22 in which budgetary concerns were influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In another matter, the board established compensation for elected tax collectors at $3.20 per bill for the period from Jan. 5, 2026, to Jan. 7, 2030.

Districts are required to establish the rates before Feb. 15 of the year in which tax collectors are elected which is 2025.

Director of Business Administration Leslie Frisbie proposed the move from the current flat salary to a per bill fee at a December 2024, committee meeting.

She stated the per bill procedure would recognize growth in the townships and the increased work of collecting additional tax bills.

The board finance committee and the administration recommended $3.25 per bill which would have been competitive and higher than most other Lehigh County school district compensation rates.

The issue brought forth some differing viewpoints among board members who expressed concerns about adding new costs to the district’s financial challenges.

David Ellowitch, Chris Pirrotta, Lisa Roth, Annette Wilcox and Marisa Ziegler preferred $3.20.

Robert Cohen, Carol Facchiano, David Hein and Jay Rohatgi favored $3.25.

The outcome was a 5-4 vote in favor of $3.20.

With the new rate, compensation for tax collectors from South Whitehall will remain about the same as it is now.

Those from Upper Macungie will have an increase, and the ones from North Whitehall will have a decrease.

The change to a per bill collection system will have a budgetary impact of $8,000 or a 10-percent increase for its inaugural year but it is expected to remain stable for the following three years of the tax collectors’ terms.