Lehighton Area School District submitted its 2020-21 annual financial report to the Pennsylvania Department of Education in late December and the lengthy document reflects positively on the district’s fund balance.

According to Business Administrator Edward Rarick, Lehighton had an end of fiscal year fund balance of $4,744,947, an increase of $3.76 million over the previous year.

“That’s in large part due to a one-time payment of around $2.7 million of PlanCon reimbursements the district was due and never received, dating back to 2017,” Rarick said.

The district discovered in late 2020 that it was owed the money. Rarick said the district had originally submitted requests for the money via hard copy paper transmittals, but PDE wasn’t dealing with paper submittals at that point, leading to the issue.

“We were able to get contacts within PDE and get the matter corrected, which has now substantially helped our fund balance,” Rarick said.

Lehighton’s fund balance is currently all uncommitted, but finance committee members Barbara Bowes and Jeremy Glaush, along with director Walter Zlomsowitch, discussed Monday night possibly committing a portion of it for items such as required Public School Employees’ Retirement System contributions.

In other highlights of the AFR pointed out by Rarick, the district’s 2020-21 revenue finished at 45,406,656 versus 41,644,318 in expenditures. Salaries totaled $15.5 million and medical insurance payments came in at $5.8 million.

At the end of the year, the district’s remaining bond obligations stands at $51,803,780.

The full 137-page AFR is available on the district’s website at https://bit.ly/3JWGH5Y.