Sep 2

Written by: ngreditor
9/2/2009 9:37 AM 

School board considers budget with reduced levy, increased tax

Kenneth Purscell

The tax levy for the Newman Grove school district would decrease by about twelve cents, according the budget considered by the School Board at its August 25 special meeting. However, because of valuation increases in the three counties of which the district is a part, the overall tax request will still increase by about two percent.

The budget will be available for public hearing at the board’s regular September 14 meeting.

Under this proposal, the levies per $100 of valuation would be:

General Fund: $0.883388
Building Fund: 0.015077
Bond (K-8): 0.014060
Bond (9-12): 0.055731

The total levy would come to $0.973178 for each $100 of property valuation. For a property valued at $75 thousand, the school taxes would come to about $730.

“Last year’s levy was about $1.09, so this is about a twelve cent decrease in the levy,” said superintendent Herb Pokorny.

Much of the decrease, though, was due to a very large increase in the assessed valuations of property within the district’s portions of the counties.

Boone County reported an increase of 26.0% in property valuation. Madison County reported a 9.2% increase, and Platte County reported a 20.6% increase. Overall, property valuation within the Newman Grove school district increased by 15.7%.

To compare apples to apples, the hypothetical property valued in 2009 at $75,000 would have been valued in 2008 at $64, 823. Current school taxes on that valuation would have been about $707. This imaginary property would see a $23 increase in school taxes next year.

“We are looking at an increase of 2.14% in our property tax request,” said Pokorny. “Our expenditures will increase 4.74%.”

He also noted that State Aid would decrease by about 5% or $8 thousand. Although the Early Childhood Education Grant will increase to $50 thousand, this will be the last year for the grant, which funds the pre-school.

While the levy remains well under the current lid, problems may arise in the future with spending authority. This will be especially true as the preschool moves to being funded by the general budget.

“This is just a concern, it’s not a crisis,” said Pokorny. “We just need to be aware as we plan ahead.”

Copyright ©2009 Newman Grove Reporter