Faced with a roughly $4.3 million deficit, Hollidaysburg Area School Board members approved a tentative final budget with no tax increase Wednesday.

Per the board’s direction at its previous meeting, business manager Autumn Fiscus presented three options for the 2026-27 budget at Wednesday night’s meeting — no tax increase, increase to half the Act 1 Index (4.2%) and increase to the full index.

A motion was made to bring the budget with no tax increase to the table and a back-and-forth discussion yielded a 6-3 vote. Joseph Antonowicz, Jesse Blank and Dr. John Wells were the votes in opposition.

According to budget figures, with no tax increase, the district is anticipating revenues of $58,896,520 and expenditures of $63,185,925, leaving a projected deficit of $4,289,405.

With an increase to half the index, the district would raise an estimated $525,523 to decrease the deficit to $3,763,882. At the full index, the tax yield would jump to $1,051,045, dropping the deficit even further to $3,238,360.

The final difference will be covered by the district’s fund balance, which currently sits at $12.1 million. No tax increase would drop the balance to $7.9 million.

Those in favor of not increasing taxes echoed a similar mindset: increasing the burden on taxpayers is not the solution to the seemingly ever-increasing deficit year after year.

“The state is requiring board members to look into our crystal ball and come up with a magic number,” which is not an effective way to manage and lead the district in her view, school board member Missy Sullivan said.

“No matter what decision is made come June, we can’t tax ourselves out of this issue,” she said.

Board President Carmen Bilek said the board’s final decision could change, but since the state mandates a 30-day period of public review before final approval of the budget, they needed to come to a preliminary agreement Wednesday.

Districts are also required to approve their final budget by June 30.

“We use a budget formula that is flawed and escalates our deficit number,” Bilek said.

She said the district has improved the last few years in terms of avoiding wasteful spending, typically resulting in reduced actual expenditures at the end of the school year.

Board member Ying Li agreed, saying that last year, Hollidaysburg finished with lower expenses than revenue.

“This is just an estimate,” she said.

Wells said his biggest worry is the district falling into more debt in the future due to upcoming major capital projects. Hollidaysburg has already taken out a substantial bond to pay for a new roof and boilers across district buildings, and more is on the horizon.

“The wisest thing for us to do is put money aside now. The longer we postpone that, the farther behind we get,” Wells said. “I am in favor — this year — of taking the full increase.”

Similarly, Antonowicz said that even if a tax increase isn’t the long-term solution, it makes no sense to keep the deficit higher.

He wanted to make it as minimal as possible while still advocating for change at the state level.

“If you run a deficit for too many years, you become property of the state, if I understand it correctly,” he said.

The proposed budget is available for review at the district’s administrative offices and on its website until the board reconvenes to vote on its final budget June 17.