The Warren County School District doesn’t plan to raise taxes by more than 3.3 mills for 2023-2024.
That’s not to say the school board plans to raise taxes at all, but the members generally agreed not to exceed the increase allowed under state guidelines. Doing so would require that voters pass a tax-increase referendum and would require early budget preparations — January instead of June — by district staff.
The district’s $2.775 million projected deficit for 2022-2023 should not materialize, according to Director of Business Services Jim Grosch. “Last year we passed a budget before the state passed their budget. We will come in better than $2.775 million.”
Passing the district’s budget before the state’s meant that Grosch did not have solid figures for the district’s largest source of revenue. Federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund dollars also came in higher than the predicted amounts.
With the 2022-2023 deficit expected to be under $2 million, an anticipated surplus of almost $700,000 in 2021-2022, and the state’s tax increase index allowing the district to generate about $1.2 million in new taxes, the finance committee did not see a need to move down the early budget road.
Committee Chairman Arthur Stewart informally polled the board members. Finding none opposed, he said the committee would put an item on the agenda for the December board meeting that would formally cap any tax increase.
“If we don’t give this to administration now… the right-hand fork is a ton of work for something that we will probably never use,” Stewart said. “We’ll stay beneath the cap.”
