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player ready...Kaneland School District 302 will spend one more year in the red while waiting for the proceeds from a tax hike proposal approved in April.
“The referendum came through too late to affect 2004 property taxes that are paid in 2005,” said Assistant Supt. Tom Runty. “It will apply to 2005 taxes that we’ll start getting in 2006. With that money, we should be able to work our way out of debt by the end of the 2006-07 school year.”
The referendum proposal allows the district to ignore the state-mandated tax cap for one year and levy its maximum tax rate of $3.61 per $100 equalized assessed valuation, which it will do this fall. Though the levy will be subject to the tax cap after this year, the 14-cent jump will produce about $3 million in extra tax revenue per year, Runty said.
That will easily plug the $1.7 million hole in the district’s proposed $44 million budget for 2005-2006, he said. Future revenues from the rate increase will help fund skyrocketing growth in the 120-square-mile district and bolster the transportation fund, which is being hit hard by the need for new bus routes, rising fuel costs and cutbacks in state school-bus funding.
The proposed budget is on display at District 302 headquarters, 47W326 Keslinger Rd., just west of Elburn. The school board is scheduled to vote on it in September, Runty said.