The proposed tax hike for Northampton Area School District taxpayers may be reduced to 2.48 percent based on the latest straw poll of the NASD Board of Education.

A vote on the final NASD 2016-17 general fund budget is expected to be on the agenda of the next school board meeting, 6:30 p.m. June 13, at the administration building, 2014 Laubach Ave., Northampton.

Also at the May 23 meeting, the NASD board voted 8-0, with one director absent, to approve a new three-year teacher contract that calls for a 2.8-percent wage increase and changes in health care costs.

A tax hike of 2.48 percent translates to a 1.24-mill hike, from 50 mills to 51.24 mills.

Based on the NASD average $57,000 assessment, a 2.48-percent tax hike would increase the average property tax bill $71.76 annually, $5.98 monthly and $1.38 weekly.

The tax hike would be reduced from a previous 2.8-percent tax hike, which called for an average $81.02 annual tax increase.

While school directors did not vote on the budget and tax hike May 23, a straw vote taken at the end of the approximate one-hour budget discussion during the meeting saw five members favoring the 2.48-percent hike, which the NASD administration prefers: school Directors Dr. Michael Baird, Judy Odenwelder and Roy Maranki, school board Vice President Chuck Frantz and school board President David Gogel.

School Directors James Chuss, Chuck Longacre and Robert Mentzell favored a 2.8-percent hike, which the board approved by a vote of 8-0, with one school director absent, at the May 9 meeting as part of approving the proposed NASD 2016-17 general fund budget of $98,544,880.

“The administration has thought it through very well. Give some to the taxpayers. The administration has done its due diligence. Everyone should benefit,” Gogel said.

NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph Kovalchik and NASD Business Administrator Terry Leh achieved the lower 2.48-percent tax hike by taking $172,000 of a $390,000 increase in general education and special education funding for the 2015-16 NASD budget from Pennsylvania Department of Education. The remaining $215,000 of the PDE increase would be placed in the NASD contingency fund, which has approximately $250,000, to bring the fund to $468,000.

Items under consideration that could be paid for from the contingency fund include:

• NASD Administration Building roof repairs of $50,000 resulting from damage in a Feb. 24 windstorm that tore off a 40-foot-by-40-foot section of the roof, causing a temporary power outage in the vicinity and resulting in water damage to the building’s fourth-floor offices. The district insurance policy covered about $17,000 of the damages.

• Reinstating teachers, teacher aides and custodians because of retirement

• Purchasing new textbooks

• Replacing one or two student vans

• Restoring district capital maintenance cuts

“It’s a cushion in case some of these are needed,” Kovalchik said of increasing the contingency fund.

“We can just transfer it,” Leh said of earmarking contingency funds.

The 2016-17 to 2018-19 agreement between NASD and the approximate 375 members of Northampton Area Educators Association calls for teachers to work 15 minutes more per school day and increases health insurance monthly premiums (in the third year to $95, single; $105, family) and the health insurance deductible ($550, single; $850, family).

Negotiations began in January. Seven meetings were held between the teachers’ negotiating committee, members of the school board negotiating committee and administration officials.

“The meetings were professional, cordial and productive,” Kovalchik said.