York Suburban's proposed final budget for next year includes a 1.7 percent increase in property taxes, the highest increase the district can have without asking for exceptions from the state.

The budget, presented by director of finance and support services Dennis Younkin, has expenditures of $46.85 million for 2012-13, a 1.3 percent increase over this year's budget.

The school board approved the proposed final budget during Monday's meeting, with Joel Sears, William Kirk and Roger Miller voting against it.

The increase means the tax on the average home in the district, assessed at $155,528, will be $3,235, an increase of $54 from this year's tax. The real estate tax will be 20.8007 mills, an increase of .3477 mills.

During a discussion before the vote, Sears suggested using $600,000 from the fund balance to balance the proposed budget and lower the proposed tax increase. The district added $600,000 to the fund balance in the 2011-12 budget.

Board president John DeHaas questioned whether the tax increase could be reduced to 1.3 percent, since expenditures increased by that amount.

Younkin said that a 1.3 percent tax increase would not be enough to balance the budget because of tax reassessments in the district.

Miller, the board treasurer, suggested a compromise of using the $600,000 and a reduced tax increase of 1.3 percent.

Vice president Lynne Leopold-Sharp said she supports keeping the money in the fund balance because she has no confidence the district will get the money promised from the state.

Proposals to spend $9,000 to print the school calendar for every household in the district and spend $54,000 on midday kindergarten transportation were removed from the proposed budget.

There will be further discussion of the final budget during the board meeting on May 21.