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(The Center Square) – Despite a $27 million settlement with taxpayers in 2022, Lower Merion School District continues to pay top-tier salaries to administrators.Assistant high school principals in the affluent Philadelphia suburb earn nearly $170,000 a year, while the superintendent makes nearly $300,000, according to an investigation by The Center Square. These high salaries endured because of a strong property tax base and the absence of a sustained taxpayer backlash. A revolt began in 2016 over a proposal by school district officials to raise property taxes amid accusations that officials hid budget surpluses. It culminated in June 2022 with a class-action settlement that returned $27 million to taxpayers. While school district officials denied wrongdoing, the settlement provided $15 million to taxpayers who lived in Lower Merion as of August 2016, along with $4 million installments paid in 2023, 2024, and 2025.