The Butler School Board Monday voted 8-1 to adopt a $102-million budget that does not raise taxes for the 2018-19 school year.

The vote came after the board discussed raising real estate taxes by 1.56 mills to build up a capital project fund at last week's workshop meeting.

Superintendent Brian White said he was closing out the current budget while preparing next year's budget and he discovered that proceeds from the sale of Oakland Township Elementary School combined with health care cost savings and an increase in Title 1 revenue resulted in balancing next year's budget without tapping into the fund balance.

The district sold the school for $200,000 in 2017.

White said next year's budget contains $100,000 for the capital project fund and he challenged the board to add $650,000 to the fund every year beginning with the 2019-20 school year to build up the fund to pay for building projects.

Pointing out that the district owes $30 million to $40 million in interest on its current debt obligations, he said using the capital project fund for projects is better than borrowing money with interest.

“Get out of borrowing money. We're paying a premium,” White said.

Find out which board member voted against the budget — and why — in Tuesday's Butler Eagle.