EASTON, Pa. — Easton Area School Board on Tuesday approved a $214 million budget with a 3.5% tax increase.
The board evaluated the $214,105,899 budget for the 2025-26 school year after taking a final look earlier this month and approved it, though not without nay votes.
With the new tax increase, the millage rate for the district will increase from 69.7 to 72.17.Easton Area School Board
With the new tax increase, the millage rate for the district will increase from 69.7 to 72.17.
That means the owner of a home with assessed at $100,000 for tax purposes will pay $721.70 a year in property tax — up $24.70 from last year.
The wage tax was set at 0.5%, as were real estate transfer tax rates both for the district and locally.
Schools Chief Financial Officer Jack Trent previously stated the total tax increase included just a little over 1.5% exclusively set for the budget surplus.
That will help fund the new $298 million high school — about $3.3 million will be allotted through this budget — via the bond purchasing process.
Trent said locking down those funds is a needed step to avoid more substantial spikes while keeping the district functioning and investing in the new high school.
'Not out of the woods'
On Tuesday, board member Michael Simonetta commended Trent for assembling the budget using “real dollars” instead of estimates, which could have resulted in dipping into the fund balance.
"We need to be very diligent on all of our expenses moving forward.”Michael Simonetta, Easton Area School Board member
However, he also stated that the district will have to exercise extreme caution in the future based on how the 2025-26 budget turned out, especially with the multimillion-dollar high school coming through in the next few years.
“I support the need and the strategy to fund the high school, I support the 2% to maintain the programs, but I'm just struggling with how we got here in four short years,” Simonetta said.
“So I'm struggling. I know we made a lot of headway in reducing expenditures, but we're not out of the woods.
"And again, based on the conversation about fund balances and the unknowns for this year and the previous year, I just need to make the point that we are, as I said, not out of the woods.
"And we need to be very diligent on all of our expenses moving forward.”
Simonetta stated those expenses will include staffing, contracts and, especially, the new high school, which he described as “sorely need.”
“In order to continue that and keep the taxes down as much as possible, we need to be very cognizant of our daily expenses,” he said.
