The annual process of setting school taxes for the next fiscal year ended on June 30, and, as years go, this one was relatively painless: Four of the area districts for which we have figures are raising their taxes modestly, while three others are holding the line.

In some nearby counties, it has been pretty much the same story, although some districts can’t ever seem to get through a year without a tax increase.

This past year has generally provided more revenue. Employment is looking good, which means more money from the earned income tax; the real estate market has been pretty hot, which means more revenue from the real estate transfer tax, and homebuyers, builders and entrepreneurs are bullish on the economy, so they have been upgrading vacant land and improving buildings, which leads to greater income from the all-important property tax.

So, after all was said and done, if taxpayers were going to get a reprieve from the constant upward spiral of school taxes, this would have been the year.

But. … Yes, there is always a “but.”

School administrators continue to sing the blues over salaries, health care, pensions and charter schools. They point to these four key areas as reasons why boards of education have so much difficulty keeping a lid on taxes.

Professional salaries are negotiated periodically, usually leading to three- or four-year contracts, so school officials can’t do much about this cost without violating the terms of the contract.

In “good” years, boards tend to be a bit more generous than they are in the lean years, such as those experienced following the Great Recession of 2008-09. Right now, contracts have generally been settling for between 2 and 3 percent annual raises.

A number of districts laid off professional staff during the recession years, but, by now, staffing has returned to a more acceptable level in many local districts, meaning increased costs.

Health care costs are a continuing challenge. Many districts have asked employees to shoulder a higher percentage of the costs of this important benefit. What today’s employees see is a far cry from the “free health care” of a generation ago, where the districts picked up the entire tab.

Pension costs are among a group of significant fixed costs. Recent state legislation will attempt to tame this big-ticket item, but this will affect newer employees only, so the real results of this cost-saving measure won’t be realized until decades from now.

And last, but not least, comes the ballooning cost of charter schools, which, for some reason, state officials cannot seem to get a handle on, even though they are having a profound effect on the viability of the public school system.

In a rare display of unanimity, school officials and teachers’ unions decry the assault on public schools from charters. The headlines blare that charter schools are “siphoning,” “draining,” even “stealing” money from traditional public schools.

Charter school organizations and officials, of course, deny these charges, saying that personal choice will make public schools better in the long run. Said one official, “If the public schools were doing the job they should be doing, there would be no need for us.”

As far as the 2018-19 school year budgets, there will be a 5 percent increase in the Tamaqua district, meaning about a $108 higher cost for the average property owner; a 1.6 percent increase for Carbon residents and 4.4 percent hike for Coaldale residents in the Panther Valley district; a 1.4 percent increase for taxpayers in the Pleasant Valley district, and a 1.2 percent increase for those in the Northern Lehigh district.

There will be no increases in the Lehighton, Palmerton and Jim Thorpe districts. In fact, Jim Thorpe takes the trophy for going the longest without an increase — seven years, according to published reports. The district, however, does have a group of what is known as “nuisance taxes” on top of the big-ticket taxes mentioned earlier. They include occupational privilege, amusement and per capita taxes.

It took the Panther Valley board four tries to approve the budget, because some members balked at any tax increase. Faced with a June 30 deadline, however, several board members reversed course on June 28 to vote for a tax increase. This school district is in bad shape financially, down to the “bare bones,” as one member put it. The board president even went so far as to say that he hopes that it doesn’t come down to a state takeover in the next few years.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com