School
School Millages Extended by Proposition, Not Increased
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Press Release
When voters go to the polls on Nov. 16 to vote on a Central Community School proposition, they will be voting to extend an existing construction bond payment and not to increase their yearly millages.
That’s because low interest rates and the school district’s strong financial position will allow the school board to borrow up to $13.1 million by adding five years to their current payout. The district’s existing bonds are currently being paid with a 23.65-mill property tax and are scheduled to be paid off by 2029; the proposed extension would push the payoff to 2034.
Central property owners would continue to pay the current millage rate each year to pay down the debt. Improved property values and new growth within the district will decrease the millage rate over time, as shown by the chart above.
The chart is a summary of projected millage requirements for possible series 2014 General Obligation School Bonds that was prepared by Foley & Judell, LLP. The projections assume a conservative 4 percent annual growth rate, except for a 6 percent assumed growth rate in scheduled reassessment years of 2016, 2020, 2024, 2028 and 2032.
Central’s actual growth rate in assessed values since 2005 has averaged nearly 8 percent. At the same time, the growth rate for assessed values in the scheduled reassessment years of 2008 and 2012 were 16 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
Superintendent Michael Faulk noted that the Central School Board members have been good stewards of the community’s tax dollars by “rolling back” millages when possible. In fact, he noted that the school board has already lowered the district’s general fund revenue millage, which was enacted at the creation of the new school district, from 43.43 mills in 2007 to 36.75 mills in 2013.
The construction bonds are “tied to the mortgage note,” Faulk said, adding that those millages automatically decrease with growth in assessed property in the district.
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