$52 million Highlands budget includes no tax increase for residents

Highlands School Board Vice President Nicole Kocon said the district’s conservative budgeting combined with growing local revenue has helped hold taxes steady for the 2023-24 school year.

The board approved the $52 million budget, maintaining the property tax rate of 25.13 mills.

The owner of a home assessed at $100,000 will again pay $2,513.

Kocon said the budget is reflective of the district’s work to realign resources to be most effective and to best serve students while being aware of the needs of residents.

“During my time on the board, the team has demonstrated dedicated and responsible stewardship of its various resources,” she said. “There is so much hard work going on behind the scenes to accomplish all of this. The trajectory for the next five years is very promising.”

District enrollment is expected to stabilize at just below 2,200 students after declining in recent years, Kocon said.

“Favorably, the district has been able to bring some of its outside cyber school attendees back in-house,” Kocon said.

“Current enrollment in such programs is 124, which is a decline from the 2020-21 school year high of 142.”

Highlights of the budget include about $11.5 million in salaries, $7.5 million in employee benefits and an unassigned fund balance projected to be $4 million.

Residents can expect to see capital improvements across all district campuses.

The board approved $25 million in renovations that include reconstruction of the high school pool for about $1.8 million.

Other projects include operational and safety features, such as lighting, boilers, roof replacement, air conditioning, parking and sidewalk replacements.

Board member Deb Lehew said the decision-making that occurred over the past few years enabled the board to approve a budget with no tax increase.

“As a board, we will continue to work together at ensuring that our resources are planned for and effectively utilized in district programming and services,” Lehew said.

“I am excited about demonstrating improvement in academics, attendance and student behavior based on the effective use of our resources. I look forward to working collaboratively with district administration, our faculty and HEA, our staff and, most importantly, our students and families to ensure that these improvements will occur.”