Daniel Prince
May 23, 2023
10.2 mill increase proposed; public information session to be held prior to final reading
At Monday’s meeting of the Union County Board of School Trustees, the budget for fiscal year 2024 had its first reading, but before the second reading and final adoption, the board wants the public to hear about the reasons for the proposed millage increase and how it will affect them. Board member Beth Anthony made a motion to hear from an expert in open session and streamed on Facebook how the millage increase will affect the community, which of their taxes will be going up and by how much, and how the money will be used. The board unanimously voted to approve her motion. The proposed millage increase is 10.2 mills.
During the February budget workshop, which was held in open session but was not streamed, former Finance Director Kelly Richardson explained that school board millage is assessed on non-owner occupied property, such as rental houses, vehicles, boats, and the like. Currently, the district millage is at 127.9 and has been unchanged since 2018, when it increased by 3 mills. The state average for millage in a school district is in the 180s. A mill is defined as 1/1000th of a dollar. Each mill brings in an estimated $42,202 in revenue to the school district, so a 10.2 mill increase would generate around $430,460 in revenue. An increase of a single mill would add $6 to the tax bill of someone with $100,000 worth of non-owner-occupied property. The proposed 10.2 mill increase would thus add $61.20 to the tax bill on $100,000 of non-owner-occupied property. The district is proposing to use the additional revenue to fund two additional steps in the teacher salary scale. Currently, teachers receive salary increases up to 24 years of experience. After that, their salary remains the same until they retire. The school district is proposing to add steps through year 26 as a way of trying to stay competitive with surrounding districts and retain experienced teachers in the district. They also propose adding to what is termed the classified pay scale, which is used to pay teacher assistants, secretaries, student records clerks, and other support staff. The money can also be used to pay for the state-mandated 25% increase in bus driver salaries for next year.
The board did not set a date to hear the information from the expert about the millage increase, but it is likely to occur during the upcoming June 12 regular board meeting.
We’ll have more from the meeting in tomorrow’s newscast.