Once again legislation has changed the rules on public school funding and it will mean extra money in Annandale school taxpayers’ pockets. The state’s shifting of aid and levy money has reduced the district’s debt levy by 3.47 percent, which means taxpayers will see a slight decrease on the taxes they pay in 2004, said Supt. Steve Niklaus. Also contributing to the decreased levy is the lack of extensive health and safety projects expected for 2004, and the district’s decision to cash in on low interest rates by refinancing some old debt last September. That action saved the district more than $200,000, business manager Tara Partridge said last year. But the majority of the thanks goes to the state for equalizing the referendum by making a greater portion of it state aid. “The amount of money we are getting is the same, but the source has changed,” Niklaus said. The 2004 total levy of $2,091,049 is $75,171 less than the previous year. According to Niklaus, the reduced levy should lower the school portion of residents’ tax bills slightly unless their property value has gone up inordinately. Taxpayers will see the decrease on their 2004 taxes. School districts that won’t benefit from the state’s equalization include those that did not pass a referendum last November. Niklaus also noted that taxpayers are still paying nearly half of what they did three years ago before the state took over the basic funding formula. Because the 2004 levy has dropped below the maximum state standard, the district is not required to have a truth in taxation meeting. The school board voted Monday, Sept. 22, to forego the meeting. The school’s proposed budget, which the board approved Sept. 22, experienced no grand peaks or dips in relation to last year’s budget despite the worrisome effects of declining enrollment, Niklaus said, and that is mostly thanks to the referendum passed last November. The addition of $735,755 of referendum money makes up for the $253,239 projected loss due to enrollment decline. The low enrollment is due to small incoming kindergarten classes in comparison to large graduating classes, Niklaus said. The trend, which has been ongoing for several years and is now filtering through the elementary school, may mean a further decline in future enrollments. An unstable factor in the budget predictions is ongoing employee negotiations. The district does not yet know the percent of salary increases to factor into the budget, and officials don’t expect to know until midwinter. There is no official deadline for negotiations, said Niklaus, though the district’s goal is the first of the year. The district will, however, save $15,000 because of the large number of established teachers that left the district last spring. The decreased enrollment has also allowed the district to reduce its staff, contributing to the $15,000 savings, though that amount is just a drop in the bucket compared to the overall budget, Partridge said.
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