From staff reports

Taxes are down and property values are up.

Thursday, December 02, 1999

Taxes are down and property values are up. That was the emphasis of a report to the school board Tuesday.

A few of the members of the school board met to hear a report from school district finance director Mark Stotts. He reported that while the tax levy determined by the state is down slightly, the actual sales value of property is up, making for in increase in overall tax revenue for the district.

&uot;Taxes are going down, which surprised me. I didn’t think they would go down as much as they did,&uot; said school Superintendent David Prescott.

According to the report, the net tax capacity for 1998 was $10,361,236, an increase over the $9,815,831 NTC of 1997.

The NTC is calculated by multiplying the market value of all property in the district by the class rates.

The property sales rate for 1998 was 81.3 percent, down from 1997 when it was 85.4 percent. The sales ratio indicates the percentage of assessed values of property as compared to current sales prices. The state average for 1998 was 88 percent, Stotts said.

So, properties in the area are being assessed for less than what they’re being sold for.

The unlimited adjusted NTC for 1998, which is the year’s NTC divided by the year’s sales ratio, was $12,744,448. That is up slightly, 10.9 percent, from 1997 when the UANTC was $11,493,947.

The adjusted net tax capacity for 1999 payable in year 2000 is $12,744,448, with the levy rate of .3578. In 1998, the levy rate was .3658.

If the assessed value of a home was equal to the market value, making the sales ratio 100 percent, then the UANTC would be the same as the NTC for that year.

Total operating referendum revenue for 1999 was slightly over $1.5 million, which was a slight increase over last year.

The total referendum levy for 1999 payable 2000 was $519,675, up over 1998 payable 1999 when it was $468,738.

The hearing was not widely attended and two school board member were present.

School board member Grace Schwab said the increase in tax revenue for the district is indicative of increased property values and the tax base, and do not have anything to do with enrollment numbers, which are in decline.