Pottsville School Board adopts 2025-26 district budget with no tax hike
Property owners in the Pottsville Area School District will avoid a tax increase this upcoming budget year since the school board has approved a 2025-26 spending plan with no millage increase.
The board voted 9-0 during its meeting last week to approve the budget and keep the millage rate at 45.4025. The budget balances expenses and revenue at $51,842,309.
District officials have spoken about the dire fiscal situation the district was in as recently as 2019, when the Pennsylvania Auditor General's office said that Pottsville was at risk of being placed on financial watch by the state.
By contrast, the 2025-26 budget avoids a tax hike while adding important personnel, making much-needed improvements to buildings and infrastructure, increasing programming for students, and maintaining reserves despite rising expenses, officials said.
The approved millage rate means that a property assessed at the district's median rate of $27,030 next year will pay $1,227 in taxes.
Pottsville has now not raised taxes 12 of the last 19 years.
The assessed value of real estate within the district decreased by $813,770 to $295,279,815 since last year. Though there were net in assessed values in Norwegian Township, Palo Alto and Port Carbon totaling $712,045, there was a decrease in assessed values in the city of Pottsville of $1,525,815.
New staff approved for next year includes four additional teachers in the elementary school to continue to lower class sizes and a behavior interventionist to provide more support for special education students. Also added was a library media specialist for the middle and high schools and an additional physical education teacher at the high school.
The upcoming school year will also include new math curriculum in K-6th grades.
The high school will be receiving significant funding from the district's Crimson Tide Foundation to purchase approximately $100,000 in new technology including live-streaming equipment for the middle school, upgraded computers for the PAHS Publications program and resources for the high school's drone certification program.
Dr. Sarah Yoder, superintendent, said that the largest financial challenges in drawing up the new budget were increased costs, including those for facilities and employee healthcare. The district's restructuring of its healthcare plan, though, will provide savings long-term, she said. Improving and maintaining the facilities based on the district's five-year facilities plan will remain the biggest difficulty based on needs to upgrade aging schools and equipment, she said.
Grants that the district secured were important additions to the district's revenue, Yoder said.
The district obtained an Emergency Connectivity Fund grant of nearly $1 million that enabled it to buy new technology beginning last school year and save money this upcoming year. A PennDOT grant received by the district increased the state Department of Education funding Pottsville received for transportation reimbursement and increased the number of students who have access to school bus transportation. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act state grant funds for 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 totaling almost $1 will continue to support the district in terms of staffing, professional development, dual enrollment, health and wellness and more.
By improving its credit score three levels in recent years the district will save money when it someday has to borrow funds since it will get a significantly lower interest rate, Yoder said.
School board president Linda Wytovich agreed that the district must continue to focus on its aging buildings and athletic facilities, though the cost of the work needed will be millions of dollars.
The top priorities are the high school, which was built in 1933, and Veterans Memorial Stadium, which opened a year earlier. The middle school and Martz Hall arena opened in 1970, and the elementary center in 1981.
'Each year we work towards balancing the needs of the students, staff, and facilities while keeping our taxpayers in mind as we build our annual budget and plans for the future,' Wytovich said.
'To date, we are moving in the right direction. I'm proud of the work the board and district's administrative staff has accomplished. I'm also thankful for the community's support and patience as we continue to build a better district.'
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