People who own property in School District U-46 can expect a 3% hike in next year’s tax bill tied to a planned $48.8 million increase in School District U-46’s proposed 2023-24 budget.
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Set to be approved Sept. 25, expenditures are expected to be $775.3 million next year, according to a budget overview now available online to the public and presented last week to the U-46 School Board.
While some of the increase will be covered by growing revenue, including a projected $21 million increase in evidence-based state funding and an additional $12 million in investment income, as well as reserve funds the district’s been accumulating, property taxes remain a chief source of district funding.
The exact amount of the hike won’t be known until the tax levy is extended next year, but it’s estimated the owner of a house currently valued at $150,000 will see the amount paid to the district going up by about $84, said Frank Williams, the district’s assistant superintendent of finance. For someone who owns a home with a $300,000 market value, the increase will be about $168, he said.
“When creating the budget we have to project revenue from many sources,” Williams said. “While we don’t know the exact tax revenue at this time — the district will follow its normal practice of requesting tax revenue when we set our tax levy in December — we are using a 3% estimated projection for (the fiscal year), which equates to new revenue of $3 for every $100 increase of assessed value.”
District officials knew from the outset that the tentative budget, which can still be adjusted by the school board, would have a “planned deficit” tied to the Unite U-46 capital projects plan, Deputy Director of Operations Ann Williams said.
The massive building improvement initiative calls for some new schools to be built, additions to others added, and delayed maintenance and repair work undertaken. Some of the work is tied to moving sixth-grade students into middle school buildings and adding preschools to some elementary schools.
The total cost will end up being somewhere between $310 million to $380 million, officials have said.
This year they plan to spend $111 million on capital projects, about $50 million more than was spent last year, officials said.
One big chuck of that — $45 million — will be going to the addition planned for Hawk Hollow Elementary School in Barlett, which is being converted into a middle school. Its square footage is expected to double under the construction plan, Ann Williams said.
Many of the other projects are yet to be decided as district officials continue to evaluate each item on the list to better determine how it should be prioritized, she said.
“We’re still making decisions on how to move forward,” Williams said.
Beyond that, operating costs are going up well, also affecting the amount of money the district needs to collect.
About 47% of the district’s expenditures — $361 million — go to employee salaries and benefits. That’s an increase of 4% over last year, officials said.
The proposed property tax increase comes only months after voters approved a referendum authorizing the sale of $179 million in building bonds to help fund the facilities master plan.
However, that money won’t be in hand until next year and is not included in the tentative 2023-24 budget, Williams said.
It will be part of the subsequent year’s budget but will have no effect on property taxes because it will replace a debt of the same amount that’s being paid off, she said.
Frank Williams said he believes the proposed budget is in line with “district’s mission of U-46 being a great place for all students to learn, all teachers to teach, and all employees to work.”
It also demonstrates the school board’s commitment to Unite U-46 by ensuring there is enough money to repair, improve and maintain the district’s capital investments, he said.
“The 35,000-plus students that attend our schools come from many diverse backgrounds,” Williams said of the state’s second largest school district encompassing 90 square miles and 20 communities. “Using this as a focal point, the budget was developed with an equity lens centering on the uniqueness of the U-46 student population.”
To view the 2023-24 budget and the budget presentation to the board online, go to www.u-46.org/Page/9152
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.Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.