Eudora school district’s proposed budget to provide property tax break

The Eudora school district’s property tax rate is set to go down for the next budget year, thanks mainly to a Kansas Supreme Court ruling that led to a readjustment of the statewide school finance formula.

Eudora school district taxpayers will get about a 3 mill break should the Eudora school board approve later this month a 2016-2017 year budget it accepted on Monday for publication.

The $27 million budget would set the district’s mill levy for the next year at 70.367, which is 2.894 mills less than the 2015-2016 mill levy.

The approximately 3 mill reduction would reduce property taxes on a $150,000 home by about $50 a year. At the proposed rate, an owner of a $150,000 home would pay about $1,167 in property taxes to the Eudora school district.

If approved, the lower school district tax rate would help offset other property tax increases that are expected to hit residents of Eudora. The city of Eudora has approved a 2017 budget that will raise the city’s property tax rate by about 6.6 mills. Douglas County commissioners are in the process of approving a budget that will raise the county tax rate by 3 mills. Without relief from the school district, city residents were looking at about a 10 mill property tax increase in their total tax bills. As now proposed, it would be closer to 7 mills, which is one of the largest overall mill increases proposed in the county.

At the school district, a $1.4 million increase in the district’s overall assessed valuation — the taxable value of property in the school district — contributed to the mill levy reduction. But it primarily stemmed from the Kansas Legislature’s passage in June of a new school funding bill, which came after the state Supreme Court declared the previous plan unconstitutional. The new school funding bill reinstated state equalization payments to the local option budgets of the state’s less wealthy school districts.

The added state aid required less local tax dollars to fund Eudora’s local option budget at 30 percent of its general fund, the maximum allowed by state law without a special election. The district levied 12.732 mills to raise $776,850 for the 2016-2017 local option budget, which was 3.644 mills less than 2015-2016. Offsetting that somewhat was a 0.742 mill increase for the district’s bond and interest fund, which is set at 29.635 in the proposed budget.

The district’s capital outlay fund — which can be used for buildings, equipment and other such purchases — remains at 8 mills, the maximum allowed by state law.

A public hearing on the budget was scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 22, at the district office, 1310 Winchester Road. The board will consider approving the budget after the hearing. It can decrease spending levels at that time, but can’t increase spending without first republishing the budget.