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Catasauqua School Budget Delayed By Dissenters: Board to Vote Again Friday on 20% Property Tax Hike.

Posted on: Tuesday, 27 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Kirk Beldon Jackson, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

Jun. 27--At a heated Catasauqua Area School Board meeting Monday, a trio of dissenters blocked final passage of the district's 2006-07 budget, which would raise property taxes 20 percent.

"It's never going to end," said School Director Sally Reiss, who said she could not impose an 8-mill tax increase on homeowners. "We're so far in the hole, these people are going to get run out of town."

Reiss, Robert Levine and Dawn Berrigan could stop the budget because only four other directors -- Carol Cunningham, Pat Snyder, Shannon Reinhard and President Penny Hahn -- attended the meeting, and five votes were needed for passage.

School Director Lester Ettl, who works for PPL Corp., was absent because he is involved in labor negotiations with his employer, board members said. Dale Hein was traveling, they said.

School directors members had heated exchanges after it became necessary to schedule a second vote for 6 p.m. Friday. The district's budget must be approved no later than Friday.

The proposed budget would raise the tax rate for district homeowners to 46.63 mills, an increase of 7.96 mills in Lehigh County and 7.92 mills in Northampton County. The tax bill on a property in either county assessed at $50,000 would rise to $2,181.50. The district covers Hanover Township and Catasauqua in Lehigh County and North Catasauqua in Northampton County.

District solicitor David Knerr said there is no statute detailing what would happen if the district can't pass a budget. But state intervention is a possibility, he said.

Superintendent Robert Spengler said a delay in passage could cause cash flow problems that would cost the district $30,000 to $40,000 if it has to take out a tax anticipation loan to cover bills for next year.

In contrast to the budget issue, the board quickly wrapped up its end of a controversy involving $1.3 million in taxes collected from Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority, which runs Lehigh Valley International Airport. The state Supreme Court ruled the district is not entitled to the taxes from the authority.

The board unanimously passed an agreement that requires the school district to make 10 payments of $156,480.72 over 10 years to the authority. The authority might vote today on the agreement, which would go into effect in 12 to 18 months.

Levine declared he will never approve the budget, saying the 8-mill increase "penalizes the taxpayers."

A longtime opponent of the district's new $30 million high school in Allen Township, Levine has argued that district taxpayers will end up paying for it three times over because of overruns, interest and costs associated with refinancing bonds used to construct the school.

Berrigan said she wanted to take another look at the budget after its preliminary passage last month.

But Reinhard countered that the board has scrutinized the budget enough. "We've sat down at least 10 times to go over the budget," she said, p lunking down copies of six revisions.

Cunningham recalled that Levine said at a previous meeting that he would not care if the state took over the district. "I think people should know that," she said.

Kirk.Jackson@Mcall.com

610-820-6527

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

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Source: The Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania

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