FAIRVIEW TWP — Property taxes will go up next year in the Karns City School District.

The school board Monday night approved a $26.7 million budget for the 2015-2016 school year, which is a $981,000 increase from the current budget.

The property tax rate for Butler County residents will be 87.1 mills, which is an increase of 2.44 mills. The rate for Armstrong County residents will be 42.29, an increase of .85 mill, and the rate for Clarion County residents will be 42.39 mills, an increase of .11 mills.

A mill generates $1 tax for every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value.

School board Vice President Josh Price asked if these tax increases were expected.

Superintendent Eric Ritzert said they were, and he said tax increases are likely to happen until the district’s retirement costs decrease or additional funds come from the state.

“Unfortunately for us, we’re in a situation where we’re looking to face a local tax increase for the next few years unless something changes,” Ritzert said.

He said the average taxpayer can expect to see his annual tax bill go up roughly $30 next year.

Additionally, to help balance the budget, Ritzert said he expects to take $30,000 out of the district’s fund balance, provided that the district gets the all the state funding proposed by Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget, which is not certain yet.

He said the worst case scenario he predicts for state funding would mean that $250,000 would have to be taken out of the fund balance. Ritzert said this is not desirable, but can be done for one year.

The preliminary budget presented earlier to the board was $23.8 million.

“This is more in line with what the expenses will look like,” Ritzert said of the final budget.

The current budget is $25.7 million, with tax rates of 84.66 in Butler, 41.44 in Armstrong and 42.28 in Clarion.