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| SISD OKs small tax bump: Cost to taxpayer to be minimal. Wednesday, July 28, 2010 Edwin Newton It’s not often that a tax rate increase would be looked upon as good news.
But the one proposed by the Springtown ISD board of trustees is so small – and could have been so much larger – that even board members had reason to smile.
The board voted unanimously Monday night to adopt a proposed tax rate for the upcoming budget of $1.41 cents per $100 valuation. It’s about a 2.18 cent increase over last year’s rate of $1.39 cents per $100 valuation. Finance Director Gary Shaw said a slight increase in Parker and Wise county property valuations over the past year helped the district keep the rate as low as it was. This year’s rate is actually less than the 2.66 cent increase approved by the district last year.
That increase only cost a taxpayer with a home valued at around $100,000 $22.10 a year more. Thus, this year’s rate hike will be even less. With the school district’s maintenance and operations tax rate frozen at $1.04 per $100 valuation, the increase had to come from the debt service side of the budget which is still paying off the $35 million bond project voters approved in June 2008. This year’s debt service tax rate is roughly 37 cents. In his attempt to put things further in perspective, Shaw said this year’s rate is actully 4.73 cents lower than the rate projected by adminstrators when the bond was passed back in 2008. The projected rate for this year was $1.46 compared to the actualy $1.41. “I think the taxpayers will be excited about the way we’ve managed our funds,” Shaw said. “I’m a taxpayer too – and I know I’m pleased. No one wants their taxes to go up.” By law, the district could hold an election to boost its maintenance and operations tax rate up another 4 cents per $100 valuation. However, the school board as a whole has vehemently voiced its desire not to do that – especially in light of the current down economy. “I think it’s only prudent to work within the revenues we have now,” Shaw said. The board voted to set Monday, Aug. 30 as the date to host a public hearing reagrdding the 2010-2011 budget and formerly adopt the proposed tax rate. Shaw has hinted that this year’s budget will be about the size of the $24,693,984 budget approved last year. The proposed budget will also include a proposed average pay increase of about 1.75 percent for each district employee. Teachers will be a 1 percent increase, on average. That raise could $250, $400, $500 or even $750 per year depending on years of experience. The increase for maintenance employees will be, on average, about 2.2 percent, compared to 2.5 percent for food service employees, which are some of the lowest paid employees in the district. Administrators will average about 1.5 percent. Teacher pay increases will cost the district about $140,000 this year – the most by far of any employee group. The rest of the cost breakdown is as follows: auxiliary – $45,000 administrators – $25,000 food service – $15,000 maintenance – $10,000 transportation – $7,000 Shaw said that a lot of work has gone into developing a balance budget that supports the pay raises yet maintains the district’s strong financial standing. The district has about $5.4 million in its reserve fund – and Shaw feels that likely will bump to around $6.4 percent by the time the budget is finished. |