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Property Owners May See School Taxes Drop Higher Overall Property Values Allow District to Ease Taxpayers' Burden in the $155 Million Budget

Posted on: Thursday, 4 August 2005, 15:01 CDT

Property owners could wind up paying less in school taxes next year if the district approves its tentative fiscal 2005-2006 budget.

For the eighth year in a row, the district is proposing to lower the rate charged in the assessed value of a home, which ultimately determines how much a person pays in school taxes.

That rate has decreased steadily from 9.854 in 1998 to the proposed 8.226 for the 2005-2006 school year.

Though the district could collect less from individuals, it's receiving more on the whole because property values in the county are up, said Conley Weiss, the district's director of finance.

The figure would allow the district to collect an estimated $100 million locally.

The School Board Wednesday approved advertisements for the changed rate that will appear July 29 in the St. Augustine Record. The first public hearing on the changed rate and total budget is 5:15 p.m. Aug. 2 in the School Board auditorium at 40 Orange St. in St. Augustine.

School Board members will have final approval of the budget in September.

The district's estimated 2005-2006 fiscal budget is $155 million, $17 million more than the 2004-2005 budget.

About 65 percent of the budget is coming from local funds, 34 percent from the state and the remaining dollars will come from federal sources.

School Board member Bill Fehling said at first glance it appears there's a huge hike in the budget, but student increases, salaries and class size amendment requirements eat up the extra funding.

"We're just keeping our head above water," he said.

Beverly Slough, northwest school board representative, agreed.

"They celebrate in Tallahassee because they're giving so much more money to education, but it's all coming from the local effort," she said.

About $33 million of the proposed budget will be used for the following projects:

Julington Creek Elementary additions and remodeling

To ensure each school is ADA compliant

Purchase of 20 school buses

Buying maintenance vehicles

Furniture and equipment

New library books

One year lease of portable classrooms

Payment of loans for the district's new schools lisa.miller@jacksonville.com,(904) 287-0618 ext. 202#another "a" for us

The St. Johns County School District is one of 15 districts in the state to receive an A grade for the 2004-2005 school year and ranks fourth highest in the state, the Department of Education announced this week. District grades are calculated through Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores, learning gains and the learning gains of the lowest performing 25 percent of students.

Superintendent Joseph Joyner said he was elated with the grade.

"Our goal is to try and even get better," he said.

St. Johns County is one of 10 districts that have earned straight As since the state began issuing grades in 2002. Overall, 27 districts earned a B, 22 a C and three a D.

Clay and Nassau counties earned As and Duval County earned a B.

Source: Florida Times Union

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