HOLLIDAYSBURG — Board members approved minor budget cuts and voiced their hesitations and support for potential tax increases at the Hollidaysburg Area School District’s meeting Wednesday evening.

According to its preliminary budget, the district is facing an approximate $2.6 million deficit for the upcoming school year.

Every school district across the state was notified this week of a reduction in their Title 1, 2 and 4 funding, said district business manager Autumn Fiscus. Hollidaysburg took a hit of $46,844 in Title 1, in addition to $3,483 in Title 2 and $2,409 in Title 4, for a total of $52,736 in revenue losses.

Fiscus said those funds all go toward salary and benefits, so they only count as a loss in revenue. The district also received new assessed values from the county for an increase of $33,178. She said accounting for those new numbers, the district’s projected revenue sits at $55,175,008 and expenses of $57,789,990 for a deficit of $2,614,982.

Any eventual deficit will be met by the district’s unassigned fund balance, which sits at $6.7 million, but those funds are not projected to last long at the rate the district is having to use it.

Fiscus said the district would receive an additional $461,649 in basic education and special education funding from the state if Gov. Josh Shapiro’s full proposal of a 5.7% increase comes to fruition.

District accounting operations director Stacey Thomas said the district typically comes in at about 95% to 98% of its expenditures each school year, so if that holds true and it only spends 98% of its budgeted expenditures, it would lead to savings of $1.1 million.

Superintendent Curtis Whitesel presented four potential cuts that the administration had found in the budget: eliminate a couple away football games for the marching band to not exceed their allocation; cut various line items at the high school; eliminate the security greeters at the guard shack in front of the senior high school; and require parents to take care of laundry for student athletes.

Those cuts would lead to a savings of $46,000. The proposal also included purchasing a camera to capture license plates of vehicles coming and going onto the high school grounds at a cost of $6,000, leading to total savings of $40,000.

Whitesel said there are multiple major projects and contracts that are coming up in the next several years for the district. He said the junior high boiler will need to be replaced soon, as well as the senior high roof and the football field lighting system. The district’s capital reserve fund, which is used for major projects, currently has $570,000.

“We’re playing a dangerous game with no capital reserve,” Whitesel said. “We have no surplus money to make the repairs necessary right now that we need to make in this district.”

Jonathan Nihart, director of the physical plant, added that the football field turf will also likely need to be replaced in roughly four years since the current turf was installed in 2016 and has an average lifespan of about 12 years. He estimated that could cost the district $500,000.

Whitesel said the next teacher contract will be up for negotiation at the end of the 2026-27 school year.

“It’s no secret, we’ve lost a couple of teachers recently and you ask them why, and they flat out say they’re getting more in neighboring schools,” Whitesel said. “We need to be preparing for our future.”

The proposed cuts were added to the final budget proposals that Fiscus and Thomas will bring to the board at its June 19 voting meeting after a straw poll of members showed six in favor and two opposed, with Missy Sullivan absent. Scott Brenneman and Dr. Ronald Sommer were opposed.

“We’re talking about cutting security (and) band opportunities for our kids,” Brenneman said. “I would rather tax myself and tax more for more opportunities for my kids.”

Brenneman said he knows some of the teachers who have left the district and he could see it getting worse if the district doesn’t make the right decisions.

“I know why they left and I don’t want us to go in that direction, because this school district will go south, much worse than it is right now,” Brenneman said.

Board member Dr. John Wells said he has softened to the idea of a tax increase if it ends up being necessary to get closer to balancing the budget. He said inflation across the country is the worst it’s been in decades and “our district is not immune to that.”

“I didn’t take an oath to not raise taxes, I took an oath to do what was fiscally responsible within my power and ability to help meet the needs of this district,” Wells said.

Wells said the board has done everything it possibly could to find ways to cut expenses and economize across the district thanks to the detailed resources provided by Fiscus and Thomas. That would make him feel comfortable assuring community members and taxpayers that the board looked at the budget line by line before coming to any decision.

Member Kenneth Snyder said he is still opposed to any sort of tax increase, but admitted he doesn’t know exactly what the solution is to the district’s situation. He said he believes fiscal responsibility is not a “fixed doctrine” and is in the eyes of the beholder. Raising taxes is not what he deemed fiscally responsible, especially after the district already raised taxes the previous three years and still finds itself in this hole.

“I’m not convinced that the little bit of tax money by raising the millage will do anything to correct the problem,” Snyder said, adding that the budget packet provided by the business office is “the best I’ve ever seen since I’ve been on the board.”

Board member Ying Li said she felt like everyone should have to make sacrifices to make sure the district is able to navigate inflation and pay for its major upcoming projects.

“I think everyone should share the burden of inflation and bad economy, even the students if we have to cut programs,” Li said, clarifying that she only means extracurricular or “luxury” programs, not basic education.

Board President Carmen Bilek said she has faith in the administration and Whitesel to come up with a strategy moving forward to get the district out of this deficit and into the clear in the years to come.

“I think this superintendent and this administration are open minded enough to look at the opportunities,” Bilek said.

The board will vote to approve its final budget — with or without a tax increase — at its next meeting on June 19.