The Salisbury Township School District board of directors held an operations and finance committee meeting May 6.

Directors Dr. Barbara Chomik, Joseph Gaither and Joseph Gnall were absent from the meeting.

At the start of the meeting resident Dennis Engle expressed concerns about the 3.25% increase in taxes noting that while he understands the pressures the board faces with expenses and limited state and federal funding he pointed out for the 23-29% of residents who are on fixed incomes, the increases will put a large number of people underwater and cause bankruptcies. He asked the board recognize people who already do without, defer home repairs and forgo vacations will struggle to pay the proposed tax increase.

During the operations portion of the meeting, Salisbury Township School District Director of Facilities Bill Brackett presented a rendering of the Salisbury Middle School athletic fields with a proposed natural grass softball field and a fenced in turf field to be used for football, soccer and field hockey. The remaining grass area will be turned over and replaced with sod.

The cost range for the field is between $1.6 and $1.7 million and would begin in early spring 2027. The field is projected to be ready for play by August 2027.

Director Laura McKelvey asked whether the cost for turn over of the remaining grass and drainage under the softball field was included in the price. Brackett assured her turning over the grass was included although the contractor reported no drainage would be necessary as the problem could be fixed by regrading the area.

The regrading, however, is not part of the quoted price.

Looking to squeeze the maximum amount of usage from the areas surrounding the turf and softball fields, directors Ian Riccaboni and Sarah Nemitz queried whether a practice soccer field could be worked in. Brackett felt there would be a sufficient amount of space for this purpose.

Riccaboni then addressed the bigger question which was how the project will be funded.

Chief Financial Officer Dawn Nickischer said the money will come from the fund balance.

McKelvey added it is important to note “we are not raising taxes to fund this. We are paying for it with money that we allotted for capital improvements.”

Board members gave an informal approval in favor of the project and it will be up for a formal vote at the May 13 regular school board meeting.

The finance portion of the meeting reviewed the year-end projection which appears to remain on target projecting $221,680 to the positive against a $48.4 million budget.

Nickischer presented the 2026-2027 budget timeline which includes a May 13 adoption of the proposed final budget, a 30-day period for public review beginning May 15 and a plan to adopt the final budget at the June 17 board meeting.

She said a 3.25% tax rate increase would generate $1,063,156 and would equate to a $150.56 increase for a median household assessed at $188,000.

Also of note are several areas of unknown information that affect the budget including the state budget yet to be passed, changes to charter school funding are still being discussed, federal changes such as Title I funding have not been solidified and teachers still have time to decide whether to retire.

The next meeting of the operations and finance committee is scheduled 7 p.m. June 10.

All meetings are held in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road, Allentown.