Batavia school board seeks higher tax levy

With long pauses before casting their votes, Batavia school board members decided Tuesday to ask for 2.68 percent more property taxes in 2015, as they adopted a tentative levy.

They did so, some said, because they are concerned the district will lose money it receives from the state, if state Senate Bill 16 should become law. That bill calls for changing the formula for state funding, shifting money away from wealthier school districts toward poorer districts.

"That's what scares me more than anything else right now," board member Jon Gaspar said. He said he had been struggling with his vote since a Nov. 13 finance committee meeting, because his philosophy has been that the district should "keep everything (property taxes and spending) right where it is right now."

Board President Cathy Dremel and members Sue Locke and Gregg Hodge said they too thought hard about their votes, but felt the uncertainty on state funding had to be factored.

The district proposes asking for $63.8 million for its operating funds, a 3.65 percent increase from what was collected in 2014, and expects the county clerk will collect $9.9 million to repay debt, 3 percent less than in 2014.

Township assessors estimate that the value of property in the district dropped .1 percent, but district officials are using a figure of -2.27 percent on existing property, based on a three-year average, said Kris Monn, the assistant superintendent for finance.

He said the 2015 tax bill on a home now valued at $244,000 would increase about $38 over the 2014 bill, if the property decreased in value at that rate.

The largest increase is in the special education fund levy. Monn said that was increased because the district may hit its statutory limit on the rate charged for the education fund, which also has been used to pay for special education.

"This is just an opportunity for us to levy more directly in to special education, especially because we had more room within that fund," Monn said.