Columbus residents will see a slight decrease in their school taxes for Fiscal Year 2024.
The Columbus Municipal School District is dipping more than $460,000 from its fund balance to do it.
The board this week approved requesting $14.7 million from the city in ad valorem taxes to fund operations and debt service this school year. Of that, $11,821,500 would be for operations, up roughly 2.63% from the $11.5 million it received in collections last year.
By law, the school district can request up to 4% more for operations each year without the possibility of a referendum. The city council will consider CMSD’s tax request when it approves its budget in September.
CMSD Business Manager Holly Rogers said the district could have asked for an additional $460,331 but elected to only request an additional $302,769.
The district’s total tax request will take an estimated 66.33 mills to service, a reduction of about 0.75 mills from last year, according to figures provided by Rogers.
A mill measures ad valorem taxes that are collected on personal and real property. For example, A 0.75-mill decrease would drop a homeowner’s tax bill by $7.50 per every $100,000 of appraised value.
She said via email the operational millage will remain the same at 53.25, while its debt service mills will decrease with $8.2 million in general obligation bonds rolled off the books.
Even though the dollar amount requested went up, the millage will remain stable due to an increase in the value of the mill, Rogers said. A mill inside the school district is worth $222,000 in FY 2024, an increase of $3,000.
The district also plans to dip into its fund balance for about $464,085 to balance the budget and avoid a tax increase, Rogers said. That will draw the fund balance down to just less than $6 million.
Also on the table were two alternate plans. The first would have levied about $14.5 million and would have required the district to dip into fund balance to the tune of about $670,800. The other alternative would have requested $14.8 million, which would have driven a tax increase.
CMSD Board President Telisa Young told The Dispatch via text message the board selected the option it did because it “… provided the greatest benefit to the district while minimizing adverse impact to the city.”
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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