By ROBERTA SLANINA O’BRIEN

With officials still coming up empty-handed when it comes to reducing costs, the Northgate School Board has approved a preliminary 2010-11 budget that will increase property taxes by the full 3.1 mills allowed by the state.

Initially limited to a tax increase totalling a fraction of that amount, the district successfully applied for exceptions from the Pennsylvania Department of Education that gave the school board the power to raise the millage rate beyond the annual index amount without having to obtain voter approval of a ballot referendum.