Nobody showed up Tuesday night to speak at the Tooele County School Board’s public hearing on its proposed $164 million budget for the 2018-19 school year.
Following the public hearing the school board adopted the budget with expenses jumping from $142 million in 2018 to $164 in 2019 — a 15.5-percent increase.
The largest increases in expenses will be in salaries and employee benefits, including payroll taxes.
Total salary expenses increased by $7.8 million to $69 million, a 12.8-percent increase. Employee benefits went up $7.1 million, a 24-percent increase.
The school district announced in May that, as a result of contract negotiations, teachers would receive a minimum $5,000 raise and classified employees would receive a $2.04 per hour raise at the beginning of the 2019 school year.
The pay increases were part of an effort by the school board to recruit and retain staff by offering salaries competitive with other school districts in Utah, according to Scott Rogers, Tooele County School District superintendent.
The increase in expenses will be covered by an increase in property tax revenue and revenue from state sources.
In 2017 voters in Tooele County approved an increase in the voter approved local levy from .000600 to .001600. That increase will take effect with the 2018 property tax rate.
During the levy election, school district officials estimated that based on 2017 property values, the proposed increase in the property tax rate would generate an additional $4 million in local property tax revenue. Officials also estimated that if approved the levy would bring the school district an additional $3.7 million in state matching funds.
In addition to new revenue from the voter approved levy increase, the school district will also receive additional per pupil funding from the state in fiscal year 2019 because of growth in enrollment.
The enrollment count that the state uses to calculate per pupil funding for 2019 will reflect an additional 1,485 students for Tooele County School District. That number includes 485 new traditional students and 1,000 students enrolled in the district’s new online school, according to Lark Reynolds, Tooele County School District business administrator.
Based on the proposed budget, Reynolds estimated that the school district’s 2018 tax rate will be near .010202.
The school district’s tax rate is a combined total of six levy amounts: a basic levy rate set by the state, the general obligation bond rate, which is set to generate enough funds to pay for voter approved general obligation bonds, a local and capital levy set by the local school board, the voter approved local levy, and a levy that represents the portion of property tax collected that the state requires the school district to collect for charter schools.
Reynolds is waiting for the state to confirm the basic levy rate before he can confirm the district’s total property tax rate. His .010202 estimate includes the Legislature’s estimate for the basic levy rate. The school district’s tax rate in 2017 was .009122.
Based on Reynolds’ estimated tax rate, the owner of a $200,000 home would have paid $1,003 in property tax for schools in 2017 and would pay $1,122 in property tax for schools in 2018. That is a $119 increase, which is 11.8 percent.
Based on the proposed budget, Reynolds estimated that the school district’s 2018 tax rate will be .010202.
The school district will not need to hold a truth in taxation hearing for the rate increase for 2018 because the only increase over the certified rate controlled by the school board is due to the voter approved levy increase.