Property taxes will be status quo this coming year, Dallastown residents.

The Dallastown Area School Board unanimously approved the district's final budget Thursday night, with little discussion after already scrutinizing the details of the $90 million budget for months on end.

The millage rate will remain at 22.26 mills for the second year in a row. Dallastown could have raised taxes 2 percent, its state-assigned tax limit.

After some budget recalculations, the district will only use $1 million of its surplus, rather than the $1.5 million it last proposed, to balance the deficit.

And that's compared to the $5 million deficit with which Dallastown started the 2012-13 budget process, said budget committee chairman Ronald Blevins; the $5 million deficit was using a very conservative estimate, however.

"We can take a certain degree of satisfaction," in the deficit reduction, Blevins said. "We were able to shave that down to a fund balance utilization of $1 million."

Part of that involved 31 staff members retiring, saving the district $700,000. Teachers also voted to freeze their pay next year instead of getting a 3 percent hike or get salary bumps because of increased years of experience or educational degrees attained. That saved Dallastown $2.7 million.

There were no significant cuts to programs or staff. Board member Bill Lytle said when he and three other members joined last December, he had spoken of passing another no-tax-increase budget.

"They said it couldn't be done. You literally moved mountains for this. I'm very pleased to support this effort," Lytle said.

- Reach Andrew Shaw at ashaw@yorkdispatch.com