Tamaqua Area School District's 2013-14 budget is final and although expenses and revenues aren't balanced, taxpayers will not be required to make up the difference.
With the school board's approval, more than $1.3 million will be taken out of the district's existing fund balance to turn the red ink black.
Prior to final adoption of the budget, the fund balance held about $4.6 million.
With next year's budget anticipating about $25.3 in revenues and $26.7 million in expenses, the board authorized transfer of $1,399,570 out of the fund balance to make up the difference. The action brought balance to the budget, prevented a tax increase and left the fund with a balance of about $3,292,000.
Business Manager Connie Ligenza previously told the board that $1.1 million of the remaining fund balance is committed to scheduled expenses and $2.1 million is unassigned.
The six directors in attendance at Tuesday's board meeting, including President Larry Wittig and directors Bryan Miller, Robert Betz, Eileen Meiser, Aaron Frantz and Wanda Zuber, gave unanimous approval to the final budget.
Directors Mark Rother, Thomas Rottet and Daniel Schoener were absent.
"This is a big deal," Wittig said as the board gave the budget unanimous approval without fanfare.
"The big deal is that there is no tax increase," he said.
Like most public school officials, Wittig has been an outspoken opponent of the state's schedule of mandatory payments school districts are required to make to the Public School Employees Retirement Fund, the government-defined benefit pension plan for active, retired, vested and inactive public school employees.
According to the state's schedule, districts were required to contribute 12.36 percent of payroll this year. Next year, the district contribution increases to 16.75 percent. In 2014-15, the payment rises to 21.25 percent. And in 2015-16, the district must contribute 25.56 percent.
Wittig and his public school peers across the region claim the PSERS payment schedule is unrealistic and likely to bankrupt public school districts.
Wittig termed the 2015-16 PSERS contribution as "doomsday" for districts statewide.
But as long as state legislators are talking in earnest about ways to reform the PSERS plan or replace it with something more cost effective, Wittig said there is hope.
"My whole mantra is the pension plan," Wittig said. "Everybody's in the same boat, in 2015-16 when the rate goes to 26 percent, nobody can afford that. But there is conversation going on in Harrisburg, so hopefully we won't be bankrupt."