STARKVILLE — Oktibbeha County residents will not see a tax increase from the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District this year.
The district board met Tuesday and unanimously approved its Fiscal Year 2024 budget request during a special-call meeting at the Greensboro Center. Chief Financial Officer Tammie McGarr told The Dispatch after the meeting that the district can meet its funding obligations without increasing the millage rate for ad valorem taxes.
That is despite a $1.2 million increase to fund operations, debt service and Millsaps Vocational Center.
The total ad valorem SOCSD intends to request is $31,130,732, which is collected from owners of personal and real property. Most of that ($25,941,944) is for operations, while $4,717,080 is for debt service and $471,708 will fund Millsaps. This will be collected with 65.9 mills of ad valorem taxes, based on the district’s assessed private property values — 0.2 less than last year’s tax levy.
McGarr told The Dispatch that since property values rose within SOCSD over the past year, the mill value increased by $20,708, meaning it will collect that much more taxes without the rate having to be raised. In 2023, the district collected 66.1 mills from its budget request, with each mill valued at roughly $451,000. For FY 2024, she expects the mill value to increase to $471,708.
A mill is used to measure property taxes. For example, 1 mill is equal to $10 in taxes for homeowners for every $100,000 of appraised value. For businesses, it’s $15 for every $100,000 in value.
The request represents an approximately 2.5% increase over SOCSD’s base request for operations last year. By law, operations can increase by up to 4% without the possibility of a referendum.
Superintendent Tony McGee said after the meeting that the net increase in its operating budget base also accounts for new faculty and support staff positions the district intends to add in the new fiscal year.
“We did add a couple of classroom teaching positions across the district to reduce the numbers (of students) in some of our classrooms,” McGee said. “We also added a few auxiliary positions across the district. Just trained support staff to help our district run a little smoother and a little better.”
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