The Salisbury Township School District Board of Directors held its operations and finance committee meeting Feb. 11 to discuss upcoming projects, the 2026-2027 budget process, fund balance allocations and year-end projections.

The meeting began with an update from Director of Facilities Bill Brackett on the comparative cost of upgrading and renovating the middle school athletic fields using turf and sod. Brackett outlined the cost as estimated by CHA Engineering and the estimated price of the same project if the district contracted directly with the turf companies. Pricing from CHA totaled $4.4 million while FieldTurf totaled $3 million. The lowest price estimate totaled $1.9 million from Keystone Sports Construction.

Additionally, all specification and design fees are included in the pricing when dealing directly with the turf companies which is not the case with CHA.

Brackett then moved on to the cost of fencing for the entire perimeter of all the athletic fields which, depending on the type of fencing chosen, was priced between $310,000 and $350,000.

The board asked several questions related to the safety of a turf field, the specific materials that make up the turf, the exact layout of the athletic fields and fencing options and the possibility of generating revenue from the upgraded fields.

Brackett also noted that in order to start the project in the summer of 2027 a decision needs to be made in the next few months so before July or August permits can be obtained and contracts in place.

Brackett also addressed the next agenda item which involves the process of searching for a new engineer of record for the district. D’Huy Engineering has served in this capacity for the past 20 years but has recently been purchased by CHA and, due to some issues he did not elaborate on, it has caused him to question whether the company is the best option for the district.

The district has put out a request for proposal for a new engineering firm and interviews will be conducted in March. A final decision on this matter is expected to be made by the end of March.

During the finance portion of the meeting, Chief Financial Officer Dawn Nickischer gave an update on the 2026-2027 budget process. She noted the challenges in the budget center around the fact the largest portion of expenditures are salaries and benefits but raising enough revenue is difficult when insurance rates have increased 17.75%, assessed property values are stagnant, Act 1 Index caps the rate at which taxes can be raised by 3.5% and 25% of the property in Salisbury is tax exempt. The math just doesn’t add up creating a deficit that can only be fixed by cutting back on expenditures to make budgets work.

She also highlighted the governor’s proposed budget increase which totaled $193,244 in the areas of basic education funding, special education funding and a Ready to Learn Block Grant.

At this point in time, there appears to be a $2.7 million budget gap although there are still unresolved budget issues such as pending property assessments, employee retirements, charter school reforms as well as state and federal funding allocations which have yet to be finalized.

Nickischer reviewed the general fund year-end projections which showed little discrepancy between projected and actual revenues and expenses.

She also outlined fund balance allocations assigned to future capital projects in the amount of $13 million and the high school HVAC system project totaling $4 million.

The next meeting of the Salisbury Township School board operations and finance committee will be 7 p.m. March 4. All meetings are held in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road, Allentown.