A strong financial footing puts Palmerton Area School District in position to recommend holding the line on taxes in 2019-20, its business manager said during a budget presentation Tuesday night.

Ryan Kish presented preliminary numbers to the school board, which included covering an estimated $1.89 million deficit with money from the district’s fund balance.

“The numbers can and will likely change before the proposed budget is presented in May, but this gives an idea of how things are looking,” Kish said.

If the district would use its fund balance to cover the projected deficit in 2019-20, it is still estimating to have $8.12 million in that account at the end of that fiscal year.

The budget, currently calling for $33.47 million in expenditures, is a 2.5 percent increase from the 2018-19 version.

“We’re projecting salaries and benefits to increase by $533,000, discretionary spending to decrease by $16,000 and nondiscretionary spending to increase by $258,000,” Kish said.

Under salaries and benefits, tuition reimbursement requests have increased by 36 percent; contribution to the Public School Employees’ Retirement System is increasing 5.2 percent and retiree medical payments are down 38 percent.

In the discretionary spending category, Palmerton has budgeted for district-provided student supplies, repair and replacement of musical instruments, a snowblower for the junior/senior high school complex, miscellaneous facility increases related to the junior high school addition, track and field uniforms and warm-ups, and an athletic busing increase, which is contractual.

Nondiscretionary spending includes a $24,000 increase in transportation, per the current contract; a $9,000 debt service increase, a $22,000 increase to Carbon Career and Technical Institute; a $207,000 increase in payments to charter and cyber schools, a $200,000 increase in tuition to private schools such as Behavioral Health Associates; and a $50,000 increase in legal fees.

Throughout the budgeting process, the district has compiled new staffing requests from different departments. Those positions are not currently included in budget figures until the board decides which, if any, they intend to move forward with.

The staffing list includes a social worker, two elementary math specialists, six lunch monitors, a school resource officer, a sign language teacher, two music teachers, a middle school football coach, a middle school wrestling coach, a junior varsity volleyball coach, and a middle school track and field assistant coach.

“I’d like to see more information on each of those positions,” Director Sherry Haas said Tuesday following the presentation. “I don’t feel comfortable giving my opinion on which position is needed more than another until we get some more information on these.”

Kish said the board would likely need to decide before the preliminary budget is prepared in May.