Highlands residents to see slight tax increase

Highlands School District residents will pay slightly more in property taxes in the coming school year.

The board this week approved a $50 million budget that sees the tax rate climb from 24.88 mills to 25.13 mills. It is about a 1% bump.

Lori Byron, the district’s executive director of business affairs, said it amounts to about $2 a month for the owner of a home assessed at $100,000. That person will pay $2,513, up from $2,488.

The budget was approved by a vote of 7-1, with board member Kristie Babinsack opposing. Board member Kelli Canonge was absent.

“While I agree raising taxes a little each year is better than a significant increase all at once, I simply cannot support raising taxes at this time, when we are coming off of a covid shutdown, during this tough time of inflation and after giving several bonuses and salary increases,” Babinsack said.

Superintendent Monique Mawhinney said the district is trying to be proactive and implement small increases rather than have a significant impact down the road.

Board member Laura Butler said approving the budget is a little easier when it’s done this way.

“Prices are going up everywhere, and, for two years, we held the tax rate steady,” she said.

In compiling the budget, Byron said inadequate revenues caused the tax increase.

The district expects about $47 million in revenue, with the primary source of income from real estate taxes. The district has met its budgeted goal of an 88% collection rate.

Included in expenses is $20 million for salaries, $12 million for benefits and $12 million for services such as transportation and charter/cyber school tuition.

Babinsack said she would have liked to have found a way to absorb the increased expenditures within the current budget “without having to put the burden on our taxpayers, who may be already struggling to make ends meet in the current economy.

“I understand we’re trying to do what’s best for the district, but we have an obligation to our taxpayers.”