BUFFALO TWP — June is the earliest the Freeport School Board will decide whether the district can afford a new $37 million high school.

“There will be no decision made until at least June,” said Barbara Toy-Gaydos, board vice president, who presided at Wednesday’s meeting in the absence of Mark Shoaf, the board’s president.

The announcement preceded a vote to approve a $25.5 million preliminary budget for 2012-13, a 5.5 percent increase over 2011-12 that includes a 6.6-mill property tax increase for Butler County residents and a 3-mill property tax increase for Armstrong County residents. A mill equals $1 in tax revenue for each $1,000 of a property’s assessed value.

The “very” preliminary budget is “a rough estimate on the high side,” said Bill Reilly, district business manager.

Nevertheless, Reilly said the district will seek exceptions to the state’s 2006 Taxpayer Relief Act tax cap because of the district’s pension costs for its employees and its special education costs.

“Just because we apply for the exceptions doesn’t mean we have to use them” Reilly said.

The current property tax rate is 121.6 mills, up 2.6 mills from the 2010-11 school year budget.

Toy-Gaydos said the board needed to concentrate on the budget to minimize any tax increase.

“This is the governor’s second year,” she said. “I think we’ll see where he stands on education.”

To develop the budget, Reilly used the same amounts of state and federal subsidies that the district received this school year. State subsidies make up about 40 percent of the district’s revenues and federal subsidies make up about 2 percent, he said.

Gov. Tom Corbett is expected to release his proposed state budget, which includes the amount of school district subsidies, on Feb. 7. It is scheduled to be passed by the General Assembly and signed by the governor by June 30, although that deadline is sometimes extended.

Toy-Gaydos said the board had been criticized for moving too slowly to approve the building project, but it was praised by members of the public who attended the meeting.

“I applaud them for not making a hasty decision,” said Jim Swartz, Freeport’s mayor.

“We were very concerned with where the operating costs were going,” said Richard Hill, Freeport’s treasurer.

Both officials had warned the board that taxpayers would be forced to shoulder additional property taxes to pay for the building project, as well as rising district operating costs.

District projections showed the $37 million high school would require a $300 tax increase for a median-priced home assessed at $20,000 in Buffalo Township. In Armstrong County, the tax increase would be $180 for a median-priced home assessed at $30,000.

Chris DeVivo, superintendent, said he supported the board’s caution.

“I think it’s a prudent decision in light of the current economic conditions,” he said, especially without information about state education subsides.