School board members at Blue Mountain unanimously approved a preliminary budget that holds the line on property taxes.
However, in order to pass a balanced budget, Blue Mountain School District must draw nearly $1.7 million from an approximate $5.4 million stashed in its unassigned fund balance.
Blue Mountain’s $53.065 million spending plan for the 2025-26 school term sees the district spending about 4% more than it did in this current term. According to Business Manager Amy Tomalavage, a $1 million increase in staff salaries along with another $850,000 for increased health insurance costs make up the balance of the added expenses for the next school term.
The agenda for Thursday’s school board meeting needed to be amended because of the way the proposed budget was worded. The board was presented with a range of possible millage rates for the 2025-26 term, anywhere from the current rate (44.325) to 46.325, which would have the district raise taxes by 2 mills.
Solicitor Eric Prock reminded board members that they can’t advertise a proposed budget with a range of new millage rates and needed to settle on one. However, that number could be changed when a final vote on the new budget is taken next month.
Board members, in the moment, decided to advertise the budget with no tax increase.
So, if the budget is passed with no tax increase for next year, property owners in Blue Mountain School District will be billed $44.325 for every $1,000 in assessed property value.
Now, with the Schuylkill County property tax reassessment set to take effect at the beginning of next year, there may be some confusion on how that affects school property taxes, since budgets are adopted in the middle of a calendar year and municipal and County budgets are approved at the end of the year.
Tomalavage confirmed that when tax bills go out from school districts in 2026, they’ll still be using the old (the actual current) tax assessment and the old (current) millage.
Schuylkill County Commissioners are likely to approve a measure in the near future that will tax property owners at 100% of their assessed property value. They’re currently taxed at 50% of the assessed value.
The new assessment rates for school districts will go into effect for the 2026-27 school term.
Last year, Blue Mountain school board members agreed to raise property taxes by 1.5 mills.
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