Board OKs levy, sets hearings on waiver and taxes

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A rising equalized assessed valuation will likely bring Morris Elementary School District 54's tax rate under 3.00 for taxes payable next summer. Board members, during their regular meeting Tues-day, unanimously approved the district's tentative tax levy of $7,651,771. Of that, $2,392,000 would be distributed to the education fund, while $3,495,685 would go to cover principal and interest due on bonds. The figures were based on an estimated equalized assessed valuation, or EAV, of $315.8 million in the district, which would the 2008 property tax rate to be 2.9839. That EAV would represent a 6.32 percent increase over last year, while the tax rate would be a 2.6 percent decrease. District 54's next regular school board meeting will be Tuesday, Dec. 9. That night, the board will meet at 5:50 p.m. for a public hearing on an administrative waiver related to the district's spending for next year. The state requires a hearing when a school district's administration costs exceed those of the year before by 5 percent or more. The district's hiring of a district administrator during the past year put the increase well above 5 percent. After that hearing, there will be a Truth in Taxation Hearing at 6 p.m., necessary because the district is requesting a levy that is more than 105 percent of last year's. (It is 109.41 percent of the 2007 levy.) After the two hearings, the December board meeting, itself, will begin at 6:15 p.m. Also Tuesday, in another financial matter, District Administrator Teri Shaw also gave the board an update on some proposed Tax Increment Financing District changes and a presentation on TIFs in general and how they affect school districts and other taxing bodies. TIF districts are created for the economic stimulus of towns, she told board members, and that could be good for school districts in the long run by encouraging new business development, which would contribute tax dollars. However, during the periods when TIFs are active, the school's portion of property tax income from land within the TIF is based on a frozen EAV, with the city receiving the “increments” of the taxes from increasing EAV. While that might sound detrimental for school districts, she said, the districts do receive some state assistance in compensation. The subject of TIF districts has come up lately because the city of Morris is proposing some expansions of TIF areas and lengthening the time period for the TIF by another 12 years. The city can expand its TIF district, Shaw explained, on its own, but to get the legislation passed to approve the extension, the city needs the support of the schools. Recently, administrators of local school districts and representatives of other local taxing bodies, have been talking about ways the city can help the schools, some of which are in financial need, in exchange for supporting the TIF extension. After the meeting, Shaw said she and the other administrators are trying to make sure the schools don't suffer a negative impact from the new TIF plans.