Called School Board Meeting Tonight To Discuss Taxes

At 6:00 this evening the Central Community School Board will meet at Kristenwood to consider the impact that new property assessments have on the taxes supporting the School System.  With the assessed value of property in this area having gone up, the school board will be faced with a decision as to whether to “Roll Forward” the current taxes.  Doing so would provide additional revenue for the school system since the current tax rates, if applied to the new higher assesed values, would yield a greater total tax revenue for the school system.

There is much discussion around the community over this issue and tonight’s meeting will no doubt be interesting.  While everyone knows the Central School System is in need of additional funding, proposed taxes to build the entire school complex were defeated in the election last month.  It needs to be understood that the additional revenue created by rolling the taxes forward are small compared to the monies at stake in the recent failed tax election.  However, our School Board is faced with the decision of effectively raising taxes on the heels of the recent school complex vote.  It can be argued that the routine rise in revenue for the school system due to rising property values and rising costs of living are unrelated to the issue of new school buildings.  Still, rolling the taxes forward does represent at least a modest tax increase because property in Central has become more desireable and is now worth more.

As with all decisions in our city, you are encouraged to attend public meetings such as these so that the people of Central can remain informed and see the representative process in action.  The results of the meeting will be published in an article late this evening on CentralSpeaks,com.