The Salisbury Township Board of Directors held an operations and finance committee meeting March 5 to discuss the budget.

The meeting’s focus was centered on finance as there were no operations committee items on the agenda. Director Thomas Spinner noted the details of the library configuration project will be the topic of discussion at the next operations committee meeting.

Chief Financial Officer Dawn Nickisher presented the Governmental Accounting Standards Board 45 (GASB45) document which allocates the 2024 fund balance and must be completed annually after the completion of the audit.

The next item on the agenda was the 2025-2026 budget update. Before Nickischer’s budget presentation, Director Ian Riccaboni, chair of the finance committee, said this year’s budget is approximately a month ahead of schedule as compared to last year and the committee has done its best to provide concrete numbers when possible in this first pass-through of the budget.

Nickisher then presented an in-depth line-by-line accounting of all revenues including the recent governor’s budget allocations for both basic and special education as well as local, state and federal revenues. She detailed expenditures line-by-line and utilized the 2024-2025 line items to estimate future cost increases or decreases in the 2025-2026 budget all while answering board questions about specific line items.

A discussion ensued over the hiring of full- and part-time nursing positions as well as maintenance positions which resulted in a call for more clarity as far as what area in the budget the money comes from to cover the cost of these positions.

The budget gap was the next topic in the presentation and at this point the difference between revenues and expenditures is currently $1,181,077. The revenue assumes a 4% tax increase.

The job of whittling down the deficit begins by meeting with department heads and administration to determine needs. Changes to revenue are also in play as the district awaits property tax relief amounts by the state and the allocation of federal program funding which last year was not released until June.

Director Laura McKelvey took a hard look at the annual financial reports for the last few years and by her calculations she estimates that from the 2021-2022 to the 2023-2024 school years the district has received $2 million from the state. She outlined a plan to use money from the cyber charter school readjustment and the tuition stipend to bring down the tax rate to 3.3%. She said “the money from the state is specifically designed to take the load off homeowners and we take it in and tax the max anyway. If the state is trying to readjust what they are doing to help take some of the burden off and then we don’t use it for that I don’t think we are being very responsible.”

Director Joseph Gnall pointed out there are built in increases in items like salaries and as the budget process continues the board needs to be cognizant of the cost of adding positions and maintaining current positions. He noted the importance of balancing the costs with the quality of the education provided by the district.

Director Sarah Nemitz pointed out the state’s tax equity formula is supposed to give relief to taxpayers but as a district with 73% local tax effort, Salisbury does not qualify. She noted she will be calling state legislators for an explanation.

Board members also brought up other challenges that cause tax increases such as the current decline in assessed property values and tax exempt properties.

Assistant Superintendent Kelly Pauling explained the administration does not take adding positions lightly and most positions asked for are needed to meet the needs of the special needs and diverse learner population in an effort to comply with state laws.

Directors Carol Klinger and Rebecca Glenister acknowledged the tough choices administration has had to make with regard to cutting a regular education classroom in order to comply with staffing a special education classroom where the ratio of students to staff is much less than regular education classrooms.

Spinner pointed out that from an optics standpoint there has been a surplus for many years and yet we still tax at the highest Act I Index rate. He emphasized the board needs to make a concerted effort to modify budgeting practices in consideration of the taxpayer while also providing the best education possible.

The Salisbury Township School Board will hold an operations and finance committee meeting 7 p.m. April 9. A curriculum and technology meeting followed by a regular school board meeting will be held 7 p.m. March 19. All meetings will be held in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road, Allentown.