District will see 3% increase in taxes

Hike comes as area has unexpected windfall of funding

Despite seeing an unexpected infusion of more federal and state funding, the Allentown School Board passed a budget that will increase taxes for the fifth year in a row.

On Wednesday, the board adopted a $375 million budget for next school year that means the owner of a home assessed at $100,000 will pay $2,150 in taxes, an increase of $63.

While Allentown is seeing more federal and state funding this year, it is also experiencing a declining tax base, according to Harry Aristakesian, district business manager/treasurer.

That means ASD wouldn’t be able to bring in the same amount of real estate revenue in the fiscal year that starts July 1 if it kept the ’20-21 millage rate, he said.

The vote was 6-3 in favor of the tax hike with directors Sara Brace, Phoebe Harris and Linda Vega voting no.

Harris said city residents can’t afford to pay more.

“I know this is going to make your household budgets even

tighter. That’s not fair,” she said.

Prior to the vote, Brace suggested reducing the tax hike to 1% and aiming for a 95% collection rate of those taxes. The district typically has a 93% or 94% rate. But her motion failed as most board members agreed it was too risky to rely on a better collection rate to ensure the revenue income.

The budget means the district will be able to maintain current staffing levels and programs, a scenario that seemed unlikely earlier this year.

The district started the budget process with a projected $26 million deficit, largely the result of increases in salaries, benefits and charter school costs.

It was able to wipe out $16.9 million of the deficit by using the one-off money it will receive through federal Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES).

Allentown is slated to receive $43.5 million in round two of the CARES’ Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER).

Twenty percent of the money must be used to stem learning loss that arose from virtual learning during the pandemic. It will use $2 million to improve air quality and ventilation in its aging schools and is still assessing how to spend the rest.

Then, last week, the state Legislature voted to boost basic education funding by $200 million and to allocate an additional $100 million in BEF money to the state’s 100 poorest school districts with Allentown and Bethlehem Area being among them.

The historic increase in education funding means ASD will now receive an additional $9,556,515 in traditional basic education funding and $6,321,437 more in additional basic education funding for a total of 136,720,247. The district also will see its special education funding increase by $1,020,449 to $12,882,315.

In other business, the board voted to direct the administration to prepare a plan to return to in-class learning, five days a week in the fall. Parents would still have the option to go fully virtual. Hybrid learning would take place should the pandemic require it.