BUFFALO TWP — Thanks to a rebalancing in millage rates and future debt payments due to the high school renovation project, Freeport Area School District’s Butler County residents will see their taxes go up again.

Freeport, which includes portions of Butler and Armstrong counties, will set millage rates for Butler residents at 191.5 mills in 2026-27, up from 185.91.

Meanwhile, Armstrong County residents will see theirs set at 61.54, down almost four mills.

A mill is equal to a $1 tax increase for every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value. Freeport Area School District anticipates it will bring in an additional 1% in revenue compared with last year.

The tax rates were approved Wednesday, June 10, alongside a $40.91 million general fund budget for the 2026-27 school year.

The looming costs related to the high school renovation project, plus other anticipated expenditures like a transportation contract in the next year, and open negotiations with the Freeport Education Association, were cited as the main reasons for the tax increase.

“It is pretty much 100% driven by our future debt service needs, as well as the contractual negotiations,” said Brad Walker, Freeport’s director of finance and operations.

Last year, the district began borrowing money after it narrowly passed a $55 million renovation proposal to overhaul its high school building.

As a result, this is the second year in a row Freeport’s Butler residents will see a tax increase. The district raised its taxes to the state index maximum level, by around 5% for residents of both counties.

The budget was passed 7-2. Board members Sylvia Maxwell and Daniel Ritter voted no on the budget and millage rates. Several others hesitated before voting yes.

“We’ve been doing this for a couple months. This budget process is not taken lightly by the board members, by administrators or by the public,” said Gary Risch, the board’s president. “I think the fact that (superintendent Ian Magness) has gone no stone unturned, we were fiscally responsible to our taxpayers. And I think our budget, where we’ve gone with the budget project, and our fund balances, I want to commend the board and the administration for where we’ve gotten to today.”