Upper Perkiomen's business administrator informed the finance committee last week that district administrators expect a significant surplus for the end of the current school year. School Board President Melanie Cunningham described it as a pleasant surprise.

            Drew Bishop also presented the committee with five separate scenarios for raising taxes as part of the 2026-27 budget. The projected increases range between $194.48 and $499.67.

            No decisions were made during the April 20 meeting, according to Cunningham, who chairs the committee. She said the members will need to issue a recommendation during their next meeting on May 11.

            Administrators are projecting a $3.116 million revenue surplus at the end of the current school year. According to Cunningham, that calculation is based on averages from the last five school years.

            Any additional surplus would initially go into the district's general account, leaving the board to decide how it would be utilized. One option could be to help defray a tax increase for the upcoming school year.

            During the meeting, Bishop presented a schedule on budgetary adjustments that has reduced projected expenditures by $1.161 million. A $600,000 decrease in the district's charter school payments, facilitated by changes to the state's tuition rate calculation, accounts for the largest amount of savings.

            The schedule also identifies more than $159,000 in electricity savings, more than $110,000 in a projected reduction in substitute costs, and $80,000 for the purchase of laptops during the current school year, as opposed to the next year.

            "All the reductions are good," Cunningham said Tuesday afternoon. "There may be more."

            Projected expenditures for next year's budget, $88.636 million, account for a $1.161 million decrease over the current year. Next year's projected revenue of $80.278 million is $6,735 less than the current year, according to information embedded in the meeting agenda posted on the district's website.

            The five projected tax increase scenarios are influenced by the district's State Tax Equalization Board ratio. According to Cunningham, it creates a built-in 10 percent tax increase without any action related to millage by the board.

            By not adjusting the millage rate, property owners would pay an additional $499.67 for the average home assessed at $126,051. At a two percent decrease in the millage rate, that total drops to $397.94.

            A five percent millage increase would reduce that number to $245.34. A six percent increase drops the figure to $194.48. The final scenario, which would involve changing the multi-county calculation and reducing the school ratio, creates an increase of $289.52.