In passing the tentative 1998-99 budget, the Nebo School Board decided to decrease taxes and increase the number of teachers in the district by 26.
Projected to come in at $85.8 million, the budget will be about 8 million less than the 1997-98 version. "We're down a little from the year before," said Nebo business administrator Tracy Olsen.Olsen explained the smaller budget is partly a result of the district having completed new school construction and the fact it is not planning any capital projects for the coming year. In the past two years, the district's capital projects fund had reached $41 million.
The district chose not to raise taxes or take back savings from refunding a bond because, Olsen said, a new law mandates that residents must approve, by majority vote, any property tax hike by a tax-supported entity.
The State Tax Commission told district officials that receiving refunding monies ran counter to the intent of the law. "It's not a battle worth fighting," Olsen said. Consequently, the debt service levy will drop from .002236 to .002227.
Taxpayers may have to look hard to notice the decrease. The owner of a $100,000 home will only see a tax decrease of about 50 cents, Olsen said.
The board did authorize the issuing of $5 million of tax anticipation notes to allow the district to "get by until property tax money comes in," Olsen said.
The district, expecting a 1 percent climb in enrollment in 1998, will hire 26 new teachers in 1998, Olsen said. Thirteen of those teachers will be paid for by state class-size reduction monies, and payment for the other 13 will come from district funds.
About 85 percent of Nebo's budget goes to employee salaries. The district payroll will be $42,611,462 and another $15,590,515 will be spent on fringe benefits. The board also approved a 3 percent raise for employees.
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Additional Information
Budget - Nebo School District
Total budget: $85,875,431
1998-99
Total budget: $93,588,246
1997-98
Where it comes from:
State funds: $56,677,258
Last year: $54,634,475
Local taxes and fees: $ 8,766,592
Last year: $21,455,898
Federal funds: $ 3,028,855
Last year: $ 4,916,347
Where it goes:
Salaries: $42,611,462
Last year: $42,249,693
Benefits: $15,590,515
Last year: $15,111,866
Contracted services: $ 5,217,590
Last year: $ 2,317,041
Utilities: $ 2,140,100
Last year: $ 2,140,100
Teaching supplies: $ 1,825,325
Last year: $ 1,867,987
Text books: $ 358,275
Last year: $ 436,433
Equipment replacement: $ 158,971
Last year: $ 158,971