Better News for Budget and Finance Committee Meeting Tonight

Better news is in store for members of the Southern Lehigh School Board Budget and Finance Committee meeting tonight.

Initial projections showed that the district had to look to close a budget gap of $1 million a year over the next five years, but superintendent Leah Christman says that may not be the case anymore.

"Several factors have changed the outlook for the upcoming budget numbers,"  Christman said in a phone interview today. One of those factors, , will save the school district $1 million over five years. Additionally, the committee has been discussing a new leasing agreement to maintain and replace the schools' technology, which would save the district a significant amount annually.

Three proposals will most likely be presented to the board, committee chairwoman Corinne Gunkle said. Each will show a different mix of budget cuts and tax variations to help close the gap each year for the next five years.

On one end of the spectrum will be an option not to increase the millage rate and handle the budget deficit with spending cuts. Another option will propose a maximum millage increase. The third option will propose a middle rate of increase.

All three, however, will involve some measure of spending cuts -- a fact of which the budget committee is acutely aware. 

"We've been looking at current spending for months down to the last pencil," Gunkle said. "This isn't something any of us take lightly."

Christman said that's not just sentiment. "Recently a secretary sent me a spreadsheet showing that different buildings were paying different amounts for long-distance. With minimal effort, she found a plan that would put all buildings on the same page and save the district money. It's not a lot, but every single penny adds up, and we're all in this together."

In 2011,, approximately $23 per household. At that time, the board warned the measures would not be enough to meet the rising cost of PSERS, the district employee pension program.