Superintendent Greg Parsley reported to the school board Monday night that the state Department of Local Government Finance sent back the corporation’s proposed 2013 budget with a few reductions.
Parsley, however, said he’s confident the district will be able to operate on what the DLGF has allowed and that the only real battle he is prepared to fight is the rate tied to the capital projects fund from which the corporation draws to make repairs to its buildings.
The corporation asked to raise $3 million for CPF, but the state cut it by almost half.
He says the district was owed $125,000 last year as well.
In May, the school board voted to hire Barnes and Thornburg in Indianapolis to make its case to the DLGF and attempt to have the error in the state’s eight-step process corrected. If its not, Parsley said the corporation stands to lose $625,000 over the next five years.
• • •
Parsley had good news about the budget.
Assessed valuation is increasing. After remaining at about $555 million for two years, it was $656 million in 2012 and is expected to be over $708 million this year.
And even though an increase in AV hasn’t yet resulted, as it should, in more money for the corporation — or a lower tax rate for property owners — Parsley said that day could be just around the corner.
All it’s going to take, he said, is some consistency.
“What I need to happen is the AV to stop having these peaks and valleys,” he said.
The property tax caps passed by the General Assembly in 2008 have also affected how much the VCSC is able to raise. Before they were approved, the corporation received more than 100 percent of what it asked for each year, but beginning in 2009, that began to drop steadily.
Taxing entities can essentially ask for whatever they need in the way of revenue to operate, but once a property owner reaches the cap, no more can be collected. And not everyone pays their bill on time — or at all, for that matter.
So what school corporations, as well as municipalities and libraries, are able to collect is contingent on those factors. In 2012, the VCSC collected 84 percent of what it hoped to get. In 2011, it was only 75 percent.
And that, Parsley said, is another good sign.
“Yes, the tax caps are hurting us,” he said, “but that gap got a little bit more favorable this year to the VCSC.”
http://suncommercial.com/articles/2013/02/25/news/local_news/doc512c208883351435974187.txt
