School districts in Palmerton and Jim Thorpe recently adopted resolutions in compliance with Pennsylvania’s Act 1, affirming their respective tax limits for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

Jim Thorpe Area School District approved its resolution Wednesday night affirming a tax increase of no more than its 2025-26 Act 1 index of 4%.

“The school district’s various tax levies and other revenue sources will be sufficient to balance the school district final budget for the next fiscal year (2025-26) based on maintaining current tax rates or increasing tax rates by an amount less than or equal to the Act 1 index,” Jim Thorpe’s opt out resolution states. “This conclusion is based on the school district preliminary budget or other information available to the school board.”

The Act 1 index, established under Pennsylvania’s Act 1 of 2006, limits the extent to which school districts can raise property taxes without voter approval or state-granted exceptions. The index is calculated annually by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and “is based on the average percentage increase in the statewide average weekly wage and the federal employment cost index for elementary and secondary schools.”

Jim Thorpe’s board has not raised taxes in over a decade.

The district’s 2024-25 budget of $50.17 million showed projected expenditures exceeding revenues by around $1.5 million after state budget allocations were finalized.

Palmerton Area School District’s board passed a motion last week stating it will not raise property taxes by more than the adjusted Act 1 index of 5.4%, as determined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. This follows the approval of a $39.9 million budget for the 2024-25 school year, which included a 1-mill tax increase. Business manager Ryan Kish said last year’s tax increase translated to an additional $44 for the average taxpayer and was expected to generate approximately $300,000 in revenue. The tax increase was offset, however, by additional $100 in a homestead/farmstead rebate for each qualifying property owner.