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Given this fall’s furor over voter-approved school levies, one might forget about the larger property tax levy that composes fully a quarter of the Stillwater Area Schools’ budget.

Fortunately, the memories of both the District 834 School Board and the handful of local residents that attended a truth in taxation hearing last week were in full force.

The meeting, held at the district’s Central Services Building on the evening of Dec. 5, was a chance for district officials to explain why the school board is likely to approve a $25.8 million property tax bill next week.

Ray Queener, the district’s superintendent of business and administrative services, discussed the proposed levy that is expected to increase 6.3 percent over last year’s levy.

While the state’s Legislature and the Department of Education determine the total funding school districts can levy from property tax, he said, property values play a role in determining how much individual properties are assessed.

A table that accompanied the hearing materials listed several examples of property taxes owners of properties ranging in value from $150,000 to $575,000 could expect to pay next year, and compared them to the amounts they would have paid this year.

For instance, the owner of a home valued at $250,000 last year — considered near the median value for a Washington County home — would have paid about $775 in property tax toward schools. If that home appreciated this year 15 percent in value to $287,500, that homeowner could expect to pay $846, or 9.2 percent more, next year.

If the home appreciated by a lesser percentage, say 7.5 percent, the increase would be smaller, around 1.4 percent.

Instead of questioning how the state government decides how much property owners will pay toward public-school levies next year, Stillwater Township resident Wally Rollie asked Queener for more information on how District 834 will spend the levy funding it plans to receive. Particularly, Rollie questioned why increases to the district budget outpace inflation, even while enrollment is decreasing.

“Why must the amount continue to go up in excess of the enrollment plus the percentage of inflation?” Rollie said. “There’s a big issue there and that’s what many taxpayers look at.”

Queener likened the increases to buying gas for an automobile.

“The simplest analogy I can give is that when gas hit $3 per gallon, I quit driving as much,” Queener said. “Yet, my gas bill was higher than in the month prior … we have inflators in our expenses that are different than the (Consumer Price Index).”

Among these inflating factors, Queener said, include a 16 percent ($7 million to $8 million) increase in health insurance costs, as well as increases in costs for electricity, fuel and certain study materials.

The school board is expected to approve the final levy at its Thursday, Dec. 21, meeting, to be held at Stillwater City Hall, 216 N. Fourth St., Stillwater.

Residents with questions about their property valuations may contact the Washington County Assessor’s Office at (651) 430-6175.

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