Tax rates and their role in school funding were on the docket at the Sept. 17 regular meeting of the Pioneer Board of Education.
Assistant superintendent Nick Silvaroli gave his annual presentation on tax rates effective for the 2019-20 school year. He said tax bills for all four counties have gone out in the mail and the collection of taxes have begun. This year’s tax levy totals $12,966,483, an increase of 1.86 percent.
He explained that this year’s tax rate (assuming full value assessment) is $12.99 per $1,000 of assessment, not including the portion of the levy collected on behalf of the area’s public libraries. In addition to the tax levy, the tax rate is impacted by the change in the school district’s true value assessments; in Pioneer’s case they increased 5.5 percent from 2018-19 to 2019-20.
Mr. Silvaroli also explained the impact of how the various jurisdictions assess taxpayer properties. If a town does not use full value assessments, the state intervenes and uses tax equalization to make up the difference. He also explained how the distribution of the tax levy varies throughout the district’s jurisdictions based on the value of assessments.
Read a summary of the Board of Ed meeting