The USD 253 Board of Education has become the latest taxing entity to announce its intention of exceeding the revenue-neutral rate included in Senate Bill 13 in the coming fiscal year.
During their regular meeting Wednesday evening the board voted to inform the Lyon County Clerk that it intends to set a mill levy not to exceed 54 mills and exceed the RNR. District Assistant Superintendent of Business Operations Rob Scheib again clarified, as he did during the board’s previous meeting in June, that the district had no real choice in the matter due to state statutes.
The district is required by state statute to levy 20 mills each year. As the RNR does not allow “taxing entities” to increase dollars in the coming fiscal year without the passage of a resolution stating its intent to exceed the rate, Scheib says the district would not have been able to collect the required 20 mills.
Board member Melissa Ogleby expressed her frustration with the neutral rate saying she feels it paints an inaccurate picture that the district would be responsible for any increase in taxes for the general public when in actuality tax increases are based on local valuation increases.
Scheib says the board’s action Wednesday is just the first step in the process. The next step will be a workshop on Aug. 11 where the board may give approval to the RNR resolution.
The resolution will then be published with a public hearing for both the RNR resolution and the 2022 fiscal year budget tentatively set for Sept. 8. The current estimated total for the 2022 budget is right around 33 million with a mill levy of just over 53 mills.
In other business, the board received its latest update on the Building for the Future Bond improvement project. According to McCownGordon Construction Senior Project Manager Eric Woltje, the first phase of work is progressing well despite a setback in exterior work due to weather earlier in the year.
Woltje reported that work on Walnut Elementary is 73 percent complete, the new addition to Emporia High School is 36 percent complete and the new Jones Early Childhood Development Center is 58 percent complete.
Woltje tells KVOE News that work on phase two of the project is set to begin later this year at Logan Ave. Elementary and Emporia Middle School.
The USD 253 Board of Education is set to reconvene on Wednesday, Jul. 28 at 7 pm inside the Mary Herbert Education Center.
