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East Stroudsburg Area SD reviews four budget paths as 2025–26 deficit looms
Summary
District business staff presented four tax-and-spending options for the 2025–26 budget, showing possible deficits ranging from about $23 million (no tax increase) to smaller shortfalls with modest tax increases; board members asked questions about healthcare costs, use of fund balance and long-term forecasts.
East Stroudsburg Area School District business staff presented four options for the 2025–26 budget at the board meeting April 28, laying out revenue and expenditure projections and the tax impact for Monroe and Pike counties.
The most immediate choices were: no tax increase (option 1), a 2% increase (option 2), a 3.5% increase (option 3) and the Act 1 index maximum (5.6%, option 4). The administration’s analysis showed a projected 2025–26 deficit of roughly $23.2 million under option 1; the deficit narrows under higher-rate options, and the 3.5% option was presented as a practical middle path to stabilize the fund balance over several years.
Why it matters: the district spans two counties with recent assessment changes — Monroe County assessment appeals reduced local taxable value by about $35 million — and that decline drives much of the local-revenue loss the budget must absorb. Board members pressed staff on health-insurance assumptions, how assigned fund-balance reserves would be used, and the interplay between one-time…
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