R-II School Board Approves Property Tax Rate Increase

Members of the Ste. Genevieve R-II School Board reviewed a new visitor management system for the district’s buildings and adopted a tax rate for the 2019-20 school year at their August 20 board meeting.

TAX RATE HAS SLIGHT INCREASE

At the beginning of the meeting, a public hearing was held to set the 2019-20 district tax rate. A total  rate of $3.4612 per $100 of assessed valuation was set, up slightly from last year’s rate of $3.4590.

Fund 3, the Debt Service Fund, which increased a year ago from 26 cents to 44 cents, remained at 44 cents.

Fund 2, known as the Teachers’ Fund, stayed at $1.1800, a figure at which it has held steady for several years.

The only increase was in Fund 1, the General [or Incidental] Fund. It increased from $1.8390 to $1.8412.

Superintendent Dr. Julie Flieg explained again why the Debt Service Fund rate, which had been 25 cents dating back to the 1980s, increased by 18 cents a year ago.

“That’s because we have a large future debt service bond payment,” she said.

The 2018-19 bond payment was a little over $1,418,000, while the 2019-20 is a little over $1,430,000. It will jump to more than $2.5 million for 2020-21, before dropping back to $1.3 million in 2021-22.

“We increased the debt service last year and we’re doing it again this year to make sure we can make that payment in 2021,” she said.

The one-year spike in the debt service payment goes back to a decision the district made in November 2017 to do advanced refunding on the $4.2 million 2015 bond issue and the $2.6 million 2009 bond issue.

See complete story in the August 28 edition of the Herald.