Hatboro-Horsham board adopts 2026–27 budget with 3.4% real-estate tax increase

The Hatboro-Horsham School District board on June 15 approved the district's 2026–27 final general fund budget, endorsing a 3.4% real-estate tax increase that district staff said is necessary to balance the books while keeping the district under Pennsylvania’s Act 1 property-tax index.

The budget presentation, delivered by the district's budget leader Mr. Stone, projected revenues of $136.8 million and forecast expenditures just under $140 million; the presentation said the district would use about $2.6 million from reserves and face a $3.2 million shortfall before any tax action. "The projected revenues of $136.8 million include the use of about $2.6 million of our reserve funds," Mr. Stone said during the presentation. He told the board the shortfall could be eliminated by a proposed 3.4% real-estate tax increase—an increase Mr. Stone said would raise the millage by 1.19 mills to a 2026–27 rate of 36.16 mills.

District leadership framed the package as fiscally restrained: the presentation noted salaries and benefits represent about 68% of total spending and that the proposed budget reflects a net reduction of one full-time equivalent position for the coming year while adding targeted elementary assistant-principal positions and a night supervisor at Blair Mill through attrition. Officials also highlighted efforts to preserve academic programming and extracurricular offerings; the district said the budget contains no planned staffing reductions that would reduce academic programming.

The budget resolution included other fiscal measures the board approved in the same vote: a homestead and farmstead exclusion resolution, tax discount and penalty rules, continuation of property-tax rebate programs that match state and county credits, establishment of committed fund-balance categories, and routine financial housekeeping (insurance renewals, purchasing cooperatives and disposal of obsolete equipment). Mr. Stone said the district expects the state homestead and farmstead credit to result in a direct tax-credit amount of $488.70 for eligible property owners this year.

Board members took a consolidated motion on items 8A–8J and carried the package without recorded dissent. Later in the meeting the board approved a district-initiated tax-assessment appeal (item 8K) in a separate vote; one board member announced an abstention owing to a disclosed conflict of interest.

During the public-comment period that followed the budget discussion, Melissa Ellis, a resident of Horsham Township, criticized the district's tax increases and asked the board to do more to ease the burden on homeowners. "The real estate tax gouge over the last five to six years has been absolutely ridiculous," Ellis said, adding that she feared being unable to meet rising tax bills.

Next steps: the district's budget for 2026–27 is now adopted and will appear on the upcoming tax bills; district leaders said they will continue to monitor debt-service capacity and Moody's metrics as they plan for longer-term facility investments.