Owensboro Public Schools is proposing to slightly decrease the district’s tax rates for the new fiscal year, while Daviess County Public Schools is proposing to keep theirs unchanged. With the increase in property assessments, officials at estimate the proposed rates will still bring in additional tax revenue for each district.
DCPS
The Daviess County Public Schools board is planning to keep the district’s tax rates unchanged for the new Fiscal Year. With the increase in property assessments, officials estimate the current tax rate will still bring in an additional $1.7 million in tax revenue for DCPS.
The proposal would keep the general fund tax levies at 71 cents on real property and 71.5 cents on personal property per $100 assessed value for the 2024-25 school year. Those rates have remained unchanged since the 2021-22 fiscal year, according to DCPS Director of Finance Sara Harley.
Those rates are expected to produce $50,753,387.25; last year they produced $47,025,689.20. Of the expected 2024-25 revenue, $6,635,513.67 is from new and personal property.
While the tax revenue is projected to increase by about $3.7 million, that number includes uncollectible taxes, according to Harley. She said the actual amount that can be collected by DCPS would generate approximately $1.7 million more for the general fund budget than last year and about $467,000 more for the building fund.
Harley said the increase in revenue will help offset additional budgetary expenses and a 4% raise the board previously approved for all staff for 2024-25.
A public hearing about the proposal will be held at 4:15 p.m. on August 22 prior to the DCPS Board of Education meeting.
OPS
The Owensboro Public Schools board is planning to slightly decrease the district’s tax rates for the new fiscal year. With the increase in property assessments, officials estimate the lower tax rate will still bring in approximately $700,000 more in tax revenue for OPS.
The proposal is to lower the general fund tax levy on both real and personal property to 85.1 cents per $100 assessed value for the 2023-24 school year. That’s down from the real and personal property rates of 86.8 cents for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
The new tax rate is expected to produce $16,232,123; last year’s rate produced $15,518,301.90. Of the expected 2023-24 revenue, $1,649,336 is from new and personal property.
The general areas to which the projected additional revenue of $713,821 over last year will be allocated are as follows: cost of collections, $10,707; building fund, $39,260; and instruction, $663,854.
A public hearing about the proposal will be held at 4:45 p.m. on August 29 prior to the OPS Board of Education meeting.
