BELLWOOD — Bellwood-Antis School Board’s streak of two years without a tax increase may be coming to an end.

Board members Tuesday approved a resolution to certify that the district will not increase any school district tax for the 2019-20 school year at a rate that exceeds the index of 3.3 percent as calculated by the state Department of Education.

A 3.3 percent increase would be about 0.3 mills of tax, said Kimberly VanGorder, business manager/board secretary.

“That doesn’t mean we will do that. This year we are looking at the budget hard to see what needs to be done moving forward. We will have $600,000 left behind. We are getting close to zeroing out. We need to give it more scrutiny than in the past. I can’t say there won’t be an increase,” Superintendent Thomas McInroy said.

Board member Kevin Luensmann, a member of the athletic/extracurricular activities committee, voted against the resolution.

He said the athletic department needs some attention.

Luensmann mentioned the need for a new track, new lights for the football stadium, new grass for the practice field and construction of a softball field as needing addressed.

“There is a lot of deferred maintenance within the athletic department. They are pretty expensive projects,” Luensmann said. “There will become a time things need to get done. Now would be the time to do it. We should raise taxes enough to cover these things.”

Board members will take a look at what needs to be done.

“We need to figure out what the needs are and develop a priority list. We need to try and chip away at things,” McInroy said.

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 946-7467.