Jim Thorpe Area School District is holding the line on property taxes for the 2023-24 fiscal year after directors unanimously approved its operating budget Wednesday night.

The budget calls for expenditures of $49.42 million in expenditures versus $46.25 million in revenues, with the $3.1 million projected deficit being made up out of the fund balance.

Balancing the budget out of the fund balance would leave the district’s assigned and unassigned reserves total at a combined $7.8 million.

While the budget was passed without comment Wednesday, whether or not to raise taxes has been discussed multiple times in the months leading up to the vote.

Last month, Superintendent Robert Presley recommended at least a one-mill tax increase, which would have generated $600,000 in revenue.

“I’m not a tax and spend person, but the reality is if we don’t do something, the trajectory of our fund balance is not good,” Presley said at May’s school board workshop.

Directors, including Board President Scott Pompa, said many factors go into the decision about taxes come budget time.

“You have to think about people putting fuel in their vehicle or feeding their family,” Pompa said in May. “I do believe school boards have to start looking down the road though. We keep losing students, but costs keep rising.”

Jim Thorpe’s projected expenses have gone down from $50.8 million in 2022-23 to $49.4 million in 2023-24.

Presley said part of that is due to the reduction of 14 full-time employment positions, the reduction of bus runs and the reduction of an Apple lease that figures to save the district on its debt service payments.

Budgeted salaries have gone from $15.94 million to $15.91 million, while the transportation budget has dropped from $3.3 million to $2.7 million.