Because more than half of Dunelanders who voted in last May’s
school referendum said yes to a 22 cent per $100 of assessed value property tax
increase, the Duneland School Corporation will be able to sustain its teaching
staff and its programs for 2013, said Schools Superintendent Dirk Baer.
The Duneland School Board on Monday carried out its yearly duty of
working through the school’s projected budget for 2013. The newest of all
budgets is the referendum budget which is expected to collect up to $4.8 million
in next spring’s property tax collection to help cover funding shortfalls seen
in next year’s Duneland school budget.
Baer said the additional money will not be available for the
school to use during its upcoming 2012-13 school year, but when it kicks in it
will help the school pay for its burgeoning costs. The county will levy the
referendum-approved tax through its spring property tax bills and then disperse
the funds to the school corporation.
Assistant Superintendent Dave Pruis who has been leading the
budget discussions with the board, said the corporation has seen a seven percent
increase in its health insurance costs for staff this year and significant hikes
in costs for utilities and building repairs.
Programs and salaries will still be flatlined as they have been in
recent years, Baer said, but if the referendum had been voted down the school at
this time would have been looking at serious and painful cuts, with up to 26
staff positions getting the ax.
“It was not just a scare tactic after all,” said Board president
Janice Custer, referring to criticisms made in days before the referendum
vote.
Pruis said the state’s estimated allocations for the schools’
General Fund will be close to $34.4 million, which is about $1.3 million less
than what was approved for 2012’s fund.
The General Fund is almost entirely made up of the state’s school
funding, generated through sales and income tax. It goes mostly to fund teacher
salaries. From the projected $34.4 million, $28.5 million is for basic tuition
support and almost $3 million is used for Special Education, Pruis said.
“Without the referendum you go back to that original amount, we
would have needed to take a cut of $4 million out of $34 million. That would NOT
be fun,” Pruis said.
...
Duneland’s 2012 budget was roughly $62 million and the referendum
should raise it past that level, but it is still considerably less than the
budgets seen in years before the 2008 tax reforms, when the state stopped
schools from funding the General Fund from local property taxes.
With the presence of the tax caps and tax abatements, and the
continued decline in assessed values in many parts of the school district, Pruis
said Duneland’s prospective overall AV for this year is $2.416 billion, $4.6
million less than for this year. Sections of the school corporation that saw the
biggest reductions in AV include the Jackson Twp. area and Westchester Twp.,
although some AVs did increase in areas like Liberty Twp., purportedly because
of the new hospital.
...
The board looks to finalize the proposed budget at that meeting.
As required by state statute, a public hearing for the budget will take place on
Monday, Sept. 10 with an official adoption tentatively scheduled for Oct. 1.
Budgets must be approved before November.
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