Politics & Government

Get Ready for 2.7% School Tax Hike

The Bethlehem Area School Board approved a tax increase that was not 2.1 percent, not 2.4 percent, but 2.7 percent when it finally adopted its new budget for the 2013-14 school year on Monday night.

The budget and new real estate tax rate of 48.36 mills for Northampton County property owners in the district was adopted by a narrow 5-4 margin. Last month, the board tentatively adopted a 2.1 percent tax increase after they deadlocked 4-4 on a vote to increase taxes by 2.4 percent.

According to multiple published reports, the additional 0.6 percent will allow the district to hire 11 new teachers—five to add new sections of full-day Kindergarten and six to restore team teaching to seventh grade students, an educational model that was abandoned when the district made budget cuts two years ago.

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Team teaching was restored for sixth graders in the current year budget.

For a homeowner in the Northampton County part of the district, the increase will cost nearly $65 more for every $50,000 in assessed property value. The 2.1 percent increase would have cost about $49.50.

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According to The Morning Call, Superintendent Joseph Roy cautioned board members about adding too many employees to the budget too quickly. The cost for every new position goes up by about $5,000 in every subsequent school year, he said.

The swing votes that brought the rate up to 2.7 percent were Sudantha Vidanage, who was absent from the May session, and William Burkhardt, who last month voted against both the 2.1 percent and 2.4 percent options, saying they were not large enough to restore all the programming he wanted brought back.

Burkhardt and Vidanage were joined in the majority by Basilio Bonilla, Aurea Ortiz and Shannon Patrick.

School Board President Michael Faccinetto, who had supported a 2.4 percent increase in May, voted against the 2.7 percent increase on Monday.

In May, he voiced strong support for adding full-day Kindergarten teachers—which would have been covered by a 2.4 percent increase—saying that the lack of full-day Kindergarten classes in the district is driving many parents toward enrolling their children in private charter schools.

According to The Express-Times, Patrick echoed that point on Monday.

But apparently Faccinetto did not agree with Burkhardt about the immediate importance of restoring team teaching to the seventh grade.

Faccinetto was joined in the minority by Michele Cann, Irene Follweiler and Eugene McKeon, who all voted in May to keep the rate hike to 2.1 percent.


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