JACKSON TWP — At a meeting Monday, the Seneca Valley school board approved a $186,166,390 general fund budget for the 2026-27 school year and a real estate tax increase in a 7-2 vote.

Board members Allyson Mazzoni and Mark Gartner voted in dissent of the motion.

Seneca Valley real estate taxes will increase by 5.03 mills, or a 3.5% increase. A mill is equal to $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s assessed taxable value.

The first version of the budget was presented at the school board’s work session meeting on May 4. Since then, the tax hike, which the district has attributed to rising healthcare costs and reduced state support, has drawn criticism.

Some public comments were made at the school board’s work session meeting on June 1 that called in to question Seneca Valley’s spending choices and tax hikes in recent years. Monday’s meeting saw some familiar faces from the June 1 meeting.

Multiple individuals spoke during public comments urging the board to consider alternatives that avoided raising taxes.

One of the comments was from Jack McMillin, a former Butler County controller and a longtime resident of Zelienople.

McMillin had previously claimed that Seneca Valley’s recurring tax hikes over the past few years are comparable to 12 school districts in Pennsylvania which, in 2023, had been listed by state Auditor General Timothy DeFoor as having “accumulated large excessive reserve funds while still raising taxes, using accounting methods that allowed them to circumvent state legal restrictions.”

McMillin said in response to the budget being approved, he plans to reach out to DeFoor on behalf of “bipartisan property owners” within the district to petition for a performance audit of Seneca Valley.

Eric DiTullio, school board president, had told the Butler Eagle in a June 2 interview, “We are well within the law of the state of Pennsylvania.” He restated the claim at Monday’s meeting before the vote.