The Northampton Area School District Board of Education voted unanimously April 23 to appoint Luke Shafnisky, current principal of William Allen High School, as the new principal of Northampton Area High School and to appoint Cassandra Herr as principal of Lehigh Elementary School.

Meanwhile, if a vote on the Northampton Area School District 2018-19 budget was held this week, the administration’s proposed increase of 2.88 percent would be approved narrowly.

That’s the consensus based on a poll of the school board members. Five of nine members said they favored the 2.88-percent property tax increase. The other four said they want to lower the percentage of increase even more.

While the official vote on the proposed NASD budget isn’t expected until the next school board meeting, 6:30 p.m. May 7, in the administration building, 2014 Laubach Ave., Northampton, the school directors’ poll indicated a majority would back a 2.88-percent increase.

Here’s the tally of the school directors and the percentage of property tax increase each favored, based on a poll by NASD Business Administrator Terry Leh at the April 23 meeting: Dr. Michael Baird: 2.88 percent; John Becker: 2.37 percent; James Chuss: 2.88 percent; Chuck Frantz, vice president: 2.18 percent; Chuck Longacre: 2.88 percent; Ross Makary: 2.88 percent; Roy Maranki: 2.0 percent; Robert Mentzell: 2.88 percent; and David Gogel, president: 2.0 percent.

After the vote, NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik said to the board, “We are going to come back again and provide you with more options.”

The second school board meeting in May is 6:30 p.m. May 21, also in the administration building. The May board meetings are being held the first and third Mondays, rather than the usual second and fourth Mondays because the fourth Monday is May 28, Memorial Day.

The NASD administration presented proposals to the board at its April 9 meeting to reduce the tax hike to 2.88 percent, down from the 3.9-percent hike approved by school directors Jan. 22.

The 2.88-percent tax hike, which is under the state-mandated 2.9-percent increase, would increase millage by 1.52 mills, down from the 2.06-millage hike approved by the board.

Based on the average NASD assessment of $58,223.43, the average 2017 district tax bill is $3,072.45.

The administration is proposing a 1.52-mill hike, from 52.77 mills to 54.29 mills, with the annual tax bill $3,160.05, which is an increase of $88.50 annually, $7.37 monthly and $1.70 weekly.

At its Jan. 22 meeting, the school board voted 8-1 to approve a preliminary budget with expenditures of $107,532,563 and revenue of $101,481,113 for a deficit of $6,051,450, with an increase of 2.06 mills from 52.77 to 54.83 mills, which would be a 3.9-percent increase, which exceeds the 2.9-percent increase allowed NASD under Act 1.

The preliminary budget includes a contingency fund of $400,000 and a special education contingency fund of $75,000.

Prior to the poll of school directors, Kovalchik led an approximate 40-minute discussion with the board about options to lower the tax percentage increase.

To reduce the tax hike to 2.37 percent, or a 1.25-mill increase, which is $72.78 more annually based on the average property assessment, Kovalchik and Leh proposed cutting the contingency fund by $100,000, from $400,000 to $300,000, and factoring in a minimum $200,000 in anticipated tax revenue from the FedEx Ground warehouse.

To reduce the tax hike to 2.18 percent, or a 1.15-mill increase, which is $66.96 more annually based on the average property assessment, Kovalchik and Leh proposed cutting the contingency fund by $100,000, from $400,000 to $300,000, and factoring in a minimum $300,000 in anticipated tax revenue from the FedEx Ground warehouse.

“We’re estimating FedEx will generate $1.2 million in additional annual revenue,” Kovalchik said before the school directors’ poll. “We don’t believe you’ll see all of that revenue in 2018-19.

“You can count on some of the (FedEx) tax revenue coming in this school year to help out with the budget,” Kovalchik added. “We don’t know if it will be in October, November or December. I think a safe estimate is $300,000 coming in from FedEx for next year - and that’s a conservative estimate.”

Various combinations of contingency fund reductions, higher anticipated FedEx tax revenues and additional borrowing from the NASD fund balance would need to be factored in to reduce the tax hike to 2 percent.