The Northern York School Board decided to raise taxes 2.1 percent on Thursday while approving a $39.8 million budget.

Board member Michael Barndt was the only member to vote against the budget, which uses about $1 million of Northern's surplus to help balance expenses.

The 2.1 percent increase is exactly at Northern's state cap, and will increase the mill rate from 14.61 mills to 14.91 mills, or about 0.31 mills. That's equal to a $46 tax increase on a $150,000 home.

Business manager Jason Young said Northern offered an early retirement incentive for the first time in at least a decade, and it became a popular option. Nineteen employees, mostly teachers, took the offer, saving the district hundreds of thousands of dollars.

That helped offset a $350,00 increase in cyber school tuition costs, and a $570,000 increase in retirement contributions, Young said.

The 2012-13 budget otherwise is much the same as it was for the past school year, he added.

-- Reach Andrew Shaw at ashaw@yorkdispatch.com