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Saucon Valley board adopts preliminary $57.4M budget with 1% tax increase after tense debate
Summary
After hours of discussion about prioritizing technology, buses and stadium work, the Saucon Valley School District board approved a preliminary 2026–27 budget that uses roughly $2.02 million from the fund balance and includes a 1% tax increase (0.55206 mills).
The Saucon Valley School District Board of Education approved a preliminary 2026–27 budget on a recorded roll-call vote after contentious debate over which capital projects to defer and how much to tap the district’s fund balance.
The approved proposal sets a total budget near $57.37 million, will draw about $2.02 million from the district’s fund balance and raises the millage by 0.55206 (a roughly 1% tax increase), according to the business manager’s presentation to the board.
Board members spent the bulk of the meeting weighing options to close a multi-million-dollar shortfall. Some trustees urged delaying high-cost projects — notably a stadium bleacher/roof/concrete remediation package and a full teacher-laptop replacement — arguing deferral would reduce the need to use reserves or raise taxes. Others warned that repeatedly deferring maintenance or technology purchases would compound costs and disrupt instruction. “There is a real actual cost to our employees having to fight with technology,” one member said, urging replacement of older machines to avoid wasted classroom time.
The business manager presented updated figures showing a projected shortfall of about $2.38 million before tax action; taxing to the index (3.5 percent) would have produced roughly $1.25 million in additional revenue but would still leave a gap. Several board members proposed smaller millage increases or targeted cuts; a motion to remove both the teacher-computer purchase and the stadium project and fund the remainder with zero millage increase failed in an earlier roll-call vote.
A subsequent motion to adopt the preliminary budget with a 1% tax increase passed in a recorded vote after members debated the trade-offs of drawing on the fund balance versus raising revenue. The board and administration said final budget adoption and any additional adjustments will occur in later public meetings before tax-rate certification.
What happens next: the district will finalize numbers, incorporate any legally required notices and continue public budget discussions in coming board sessions. The business manager noted that debt-service reductions scheduled in future years may ease pressure on the operating budget but urged planning now so the district does not exhaust reserves.
The board’s decision preserves most high-priority instructional items while deferring some lower-priority proposals; members asked administration to return with updated calculations and options before final budget adoption.
