Nebraska City school lowers tax request for operations budget

NEBRASKA CITY – The Nebraska City School Board approved a property tax asking for its operations budget that is lower than last  year despite an  increase in property valuations averaging districtwide at nearly 14 percent.

The valuation on property is used to calculate property taxes and the school district’s valuation rose by $128 million.

 

School Board member Jim Nemec said the school has “20-something” fewer staff on payroll than it had three years ago, helping the operations budget go from a levy of 1.01 to .89.

Nemec: “The district is trying to be as good to the taxpayers as we possibly can.”

He said the district’s growth rate has been 1.79 percent over the last two years.

Although the district is asking $263,000 less in property tax for the operations budget, the school board’s budget adds $568,000 in property taxes to the special building fund. The overall property tax asking, including school bonds, is an increase of $325,000

 

Nemec said the district has $120 million in value to its buildings and needs to take care of them. He said the additional funds will be used for heating and air conditioning.

Superintendent Mark Fritch said the school district also benefits from having a “carry over” balance in its operations budget year over year.

He said this is the first time since he has been superintendent that the district did not have a negative balance entering into a new budget year.