School official - Cape tax rate will not rise

An unfavorable response from community members has prompted officials in the Cape Girardeau School District to rethink their decision to raise property taxes.

The school board will meet Monday night to set the tax levy for 2003-04, and superintendent Mark Bowles had originally planned to recommend a tax increase of 7 cents per $100 assessed valuation.

"An overwhelming number of people who support the district were against it," Bowles said. "The issue didn't seem to be how much, it's that these are not times to raise the tax levy."

Now, Bowles is recommending the levy stay at $3.99 per $100 assessed valuation, despite previous concerns that, without the tax increase, the district would drop below the fund balance level required by the state and risk losing some control over its finances.

The current tax levy could be raised to as much as $4.15 under state law without voter approval.

The tax increase would have generated around $280,000 for the district and cost the average owner of a $50,000 home $6.65 more per year in property taxes.

Throughout the school board's discussion of a possible tax increase in recent months, board member Mark Carver openly spoke against it. He said he would have voted against a tax increase had it been Bowles' final recommendation.

"I'm dead set against raising taxes without a vote of the people," Carver said. "I understand that it's within their legal parameters, but it's still morally wrong."

The state annually sets a tax-rate ceiling for individual districts that determines the maximum amount a district can tax without getting voter approval.

In past years, the Cape Girardeau School District has voluntarily reduced the tax levy, opting not to tax to the maximum ability allowed under state law.

But state budget cuts and a lack of growth in the local property tax revenue has greatly impacted district finances, forcing officials to give serious consideration to every possible revenue source.

Bowles said the district has already cut $1 million from this year's budget by not replacing vacated staff positions and decreasing expenditures.

"The financial outlook for schools looks worse this year," Bowles said. "But the financial outlook for individuals and businesses is also worse.

"It's not the time for us to go back and raise taxes for people already paying one of the highest tax rates in this area," he said.

Unless officials find a way to drastically cut back on expenditures, Bowles expects the district to fall below the 3 percent fund balance level, which is required under state law, by June 2005.

In doing so, the district risks being labeled "financially distressed" and losing some control of spending to the state.

Bowles said school officials will spend the next year determining what programs and staff positions will have the least impact on students if eliminated.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128