A property tax levy increase to sustain the Iola school district’s operating budget is expected to pass at next Monday’s USD 257 board meeting.
For the past two years, the portion of dollars the state has historically matched, 61.5 percent of the district’s 3.1 million local option budget, was cut by 8.3 percent and 17 percent.
“The Legislature’s blatant disregard for the schools really worries me,” said Brian Pekarek, USD 257 superintendent of schools.
To absorb this year’s $174,000 cut in a fashion that is the least burdensome to the taxpayer while simultaneously protecting the current USD 257 quality standard, the board is expected to reduce the existing capital outlay levy from 4.4 mills to 2.4 mills. Those dollars are not matched by state funds. The LOB rate, state-matched funds up to 30 percent, will be raised from 23.6 mills to 26.9 mills.
“This is the best way to keep (mill levies) at the lowest level possible,” said USD 257 board president Tony Leavitt of the method used to reach the 1.3-mill levy increase.
“It’s a travesty and tragedy that we have to raise our mills to get the same funding from the state,” Pekarek said, referring to the cuts to education.
A mill, based on assessed valuation, equates to $11.50 in property tax for the owner of a $100,000 home.
“We just as well leverage what we can with the state funding because of the shift from the state level to the local level,” Leavitt said. “As a board, I think everybody recognizes the tax burden everybody in today’s economy is struggling with but I think this is reasonable.”
Board member Darrel Catron, planning to support Pekarek’s proposal, agreed.
“I don’t like to raise taxes anymore than anybody else does,” he said. “I have to pay them, too.”
It could be worse. Taxpayers originally were facing a 3.6-mill increase but Pekarek said a 25 percent decrease in teacher supplies, two unfilled vacant teacher positions and cash on hand put the board and the schools in a position to make the taxpayers’ burden as minimal as possible.
Catron said people need to keep in mind that although the district saw its state aid cut by more than $800,000 the past two years, taxes haven’t been raised. With another round of cuts, the only options are to increase the mill levy or cut the budget and make a grim situation even worse, he said.
“Iola’s (district) pay scale is one of the lowest in southeast Kansas,” Catron said. “If you don’t have a competitive salary and a competitive benefit package, you’re not going to attract quality people. They’ll come and listen to what we have to offer and then move on.”
Board members are expected to approve the 1.3-mill increase, or $14.95 per year for the owner of a $100,000 home, at the Aug. 8 budget hearing.
School board will increase mill levy
