Cape Girardeau school board approves 2024-25 tax and tuition rates, maintaining property tax promise

The Cape Girardeau Public Schools Board of Education approved the tax and tuition rates for the 2024-25 school year during its Monday night, Aug. 26, regularly scheduled meeting.

The district is keeping the property tax rate at $4.1567 per $100 of assessed valuation as it has for several years. During the meeting, chief financial officer Lindsey Dudek said the district remains committed to keeping it the same as promised when its bond issue passed in 2010.

"The state actually calculates what your maximum levy could be, so our maximum levy could be higher than this and we have a right to increase it if we choose, but when we have taken our bond issues to voters we have promised that we would not increase the tax levy," Dudek said. "It's a commitment that we've made as a district.

Cape Girardeau Public Schools superintendent Howard Benyon also said the district plans to keep the tax levy the same when renewing the bond.

The adjusted assessed valuation on which tax revenue is received is expected to increase by $7.1 million, for a total of $815,292,781.

"It's up a little bit under 1%, which this was a non-reassessment year, so that's pretty typical for us," Dudek said.

Assuming 100% of the revenue is collected, the district estimates a total budget of $33,889,275, just under $300,000 more than the calculated tax revenue from last year.

The district's incidental fund tax rate will increase from $3.242 per $100 of assessed valuation to $3.5719.

To reach the aforementioned incidental fund rate, Dudek proposed a debt service fund decrease from $0.6647 to $0.5848 — totaling $4,767,832 if 100% is collected — and a capital projects fund decrease from $0.25 to $0.

"This year, for the incidental fund, which would be our operating fund, we're proposing our rate at $3.5719 and, at 100% collections, it would bring in a little over $29 million," Dudek said. "We usually average about a 98% collection rate. Debt service is a little different. Because we have issued general obligation bonds, we have to have a levy in debt service so you will always see a levy there. This year, we are not levying anything in capital projects, and we have moved that 25 cents back up to the incidental fund."

Estimated new revenue totals equal $901,857, which includes $576,453 from new construction and improvements and $325,404 (1.1531%) from reassessment.

The board also approved a $500 increase to out-of-district tuition, which is the amount it increases each year, bringing it to $11,000. The increase is based on a cost-per-student calculation sheet provided by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and reflects expenditures from the district's incidental, teacher and capital projects fund.

According to Dudek, just 25 students are paying tuition to attend Cape Girardeau Public Schools, which will bring in $275,000.