Making Sense of Saucon's $60 Million 2025-26 Budget
- Barrett Geyer
- Apr 23
- 4 min read
One of the most important—and complex—tasks a school board handles each year is shaping and approving the annual budget. This isn’t just about spreadsheets and numbers. It’s about priorities. It’s about ensuring that every dollar supports students, teachers, and the success of our schools.
At the most recent board meeting, we received our first look at the preliminary budget for the 2025–2026 school year. It’s a lot to take in, so below is a breakdown of the key information. Whether you’re a parent, taxpayer, educator, or student, we should all understand how Saucon operates and spends its money.
Important Budget Dates
The finalized school budget is due by June 30, 2025, but several key steps happen before that. According to the timeline laid out by Business Manager David Bonenberger, the board will need to vote on a preliminary budget at its May 13th meeting. After that, the budget will be available for public inspection with the Board needing to approve the final budget at its June 24th meeting.
The Too Long; Didn't Read (TL:DR) Version
If you're short on time, Expected Revenue (local & state) is projected at $54.6 million. Proposed Spending of $60.1 million would leave a Projected Deficit of $5.5 million.
This gap isn’t unique to Saucon. Districts across our region are facing similar shortfalls:
Budgets are tight, costs are rising, and unfortunately, funding isn't always keeping up.
Where the Money Goes: Understanding Spending Categories
To better understand how the district spends its funds, it helps to know how the budget is broken into spending categories, also called "objects." Each one represents a major type of expense:
100 – Salaries
This includes all employee wages: teachers, support staff, administrators, and others who keep the district running. It’s the largest slice of the pie—and rightly so, since our people are our greatest asset.
2025–26 Budget: $23.3 million (38.7% of total budget)
200 – Benefits
This covers health insurance, retirement contributions, social security, and other benefits.
2025–26 Budget: $16.7 million (27.8% of total budget)
300 – Professional & Technical Services
This includes payments to outside specialists and services like: occupational & physical therapy, professional development, Intermediate Units (IU20 & IU21), and security services.
2025–26 Budget: $2.7 million (4.5% of total budget)
400 – Contracted Maintenance Services
Everything from building repairs to lawn care, construction, and equipment rentals falls under this category. This year’s budget shows a significant decrease in this line.
2025–26 Budget: $1.3 million (2.1% of total budget)
500 – Other Purchased Services
This category includes items like transportation (including field trips), charter and technical school tuition (like NCC and BVATS), and postage, internet, and liability costs. This is an area of growing cost due to increasing tuition payments to other schools.
2025–26 Budget: $8.1 million (13.5% of total budget)
600 – Supplies
This covers everything from classroom books to natural gas, diesel, electricity, and educational software licenses.
2025–26 Budget: $3.4 million (5.7% of total budget)
700 – Property
Funds in this category are used for the purchase or replacement of equipment—think computers, furniture, or other assets.
2025–26 Budget: $330,000 (0.5% of total budget)
800 – Other
This includes a range of expenses like interest payments, student activity fees, and membership dues.
2025–26 Budget: $264,000 (0.4% of total budget)
900 – Other Use of Funds
Used for debt repayment and transfers from one fund to another, this category also saw a big increase this year due to one-time expenses related to Bethlehem Area Vocation Technical School.
2025–26 Budget: $4.0 million (6.6% of total budget)
A Closer Look: The BAVTS Expansion
One significant item in this year’s budget is a $2.6 million expansion for the Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School (BAVTS). Instead of borrowing money and taking on new debt, the district proposes to cover this cost using our reserve fund balance—which currently totals around $15.6 million.
Doing so would reduce the projected deficit from $5.5 million to $2.9 million. That’s a smart use of reserves for a one-time investment in long-term educational value.
What About Raising Taxes?
Under Act 1, school districts in Pennsylvania are limited in how much they can raise taxes each year unless they get special exceptions or voter approval. The maximum increase this year would generate $1.4 million, still leaving us $1.5 million short.
So even if we max out the allowable tax increase, we’ll still face hard choices—possibly including tax increases or additional fund balance use.
Why This Matters—and How I’d Serve
As someone who believes in transparency, responsible budgeting, and strong schools, here’s what I bring to the table:
✅ I will make budget decisions rooted in student success
✅ I believe in clear, honest communication with the public
✅ I support using data—and your input—to guide tough choices
✅ I want to empower families and taxpayers with knowledge, not just numbers
We need leaders who can both understand the financial complexities and communicate them clearly to our community. I plan to bring that dedication to the school board and help the public understand the choices we face as a community.
