If everything goes according to plan, residents in the St. Clair R-XIII School District will be paying the same tax rate again during the 2012-2013 academic year.
At 6:45 p.m. on Thursday, a public hearing is scheduled at the central office on Bardot Street prior to the school board’s regular monthly meeting at 7 p.m. The topic of the public hearing is to review the proposed tax levy rates approved by the state auditor for the district and establish the tax levy rate for the upcoming year.
During the public hearing, information will be shared pertaining to the 2012-2013 levy, and time will be set aside for public comment. The board then plans to vote on the proposed rate.
The overall proposed R-XIII tax levy is $3.37 per every $100 of assessed valuation. The rate is split with $2.05 in the incidental (operations) fund, 70 cents in the teachers fund and 62 cents in the debt service fund. All three are the same as a year ago.
The current debt service levy has remain unchanged since the 2001-2002 school year, when it was raised from 55 cents.
According to information provided by the R-XIII school district, estimated real estate figures for the current year show $93,905,462 for residential, $24,228,126 for commercial and $3,788,451 for agriculture for a district subtotal of $121,922,039. That subtotal is about $1.5 million higher than last year.
Personal property assessment is estimated at $25,401,602, or about the same as last year, for a grand total of $147,323,641.
The $3.37 overall tax levy is expected to bring about $4,656,988.69 into district coffers during the fiscal year that started July 1. That amount is broken into $2,832,866.29 in the incidental fund, $967,327.03 in the teachers fund and $856,775.37 in the debt service fund.
Revenue is determined by dividing the assessed valuation by 100, multiplying by the proposed rate and then multiplying by the anticipated collection rate of .9380, the district stated.
In June, school board members approved a 2012-2013 budget totaling $22.54 million, or about 1.3 percent less than the year before.
Regular Meeting
During the regular board meeting that follows the tax hearing, the group is scheduled to discuss a proposal from BoardDocs of Georgia on the benefits of using its system to run a paperless board meeting.
According to information about the company, BoardDocs helps organizations dramatically reduce costs, increase transparency and reduce the time spent producing board packets by up to 75 percent.
Also, Superintendent Mike Murphy will lead a discussion on the district’s classified salary schedule, including health benefits, and will review the list of extracurricular activities offered in the district this year.
Assistant Superintendent Tanya Vest is scheduled to make a presentation on the district’s annual MAP scores.
