Columbus Municipal School District trustees are weighing a request of $180,104.14 more in ad valorem taxes this fiscal year in a proposal that would not result in an increased tax rate for property owners in the district.
Chief Financial Officer Holly Rogers presented her proposal for the Fiscal Year 2026 budget Monday during a public hearing, recommending the board approve a total tax request of $16.1 million that would be collected from district taxpayers based on their real and personal property values.
Of that request, $13.2 million is for operations. That includes a $180,108.14 increase from the $12.5 million the district collected for operations last fiscal year, as well as $155,132 for new programs, $328,028.05 homestead reimbursement and $20,196.39 for new property.
By law, school districts can request up to a 4% increase for operations from the previous year’s request. Up to 7% can trigger a reverse referendum, and more than that requires a direct referendum. New programs and new property are not figured into that percentage.
Should the board approve the recommendation, the $180,108.14 increase would only be a 1.4% increase.
The remaining $2,880,393.24 of the ad valorem request will cover the district’s 3-mill note for capital improvements and general obligation debt.
The board will approve a budget during its upcoming regular meeting at 5 p.m. Monday, Rogers told The Dispatch. Once approved, the city will set the number of mills – or the tax rate – necessary to fund the budget.
A mill is used to measure property taxes. A 1-mill increase, for example, would add $10 to a homeowner’s tax bill per every $100,000 of property value.
For Fiscal Year 2025, it took the city 65.5 mills to fund the district’s tax request. If Rogers’ recommendation is approved, she said the tax rate would remain the same at 65.5, meaning homeowners in the district would see no change to their bill from last year.
“Overall, we are not asking for an increase in our mills,” Rogers told the board. “We’re only asking to keep the mills that we currently have between operations and debt.”
Alternatively, Rogers presented two other options for the budget to the board, neither of which includes an increase to last year’s operations request.
One option would only request $20,196.39 for new property while not asking anything for new programs funding. Rogers said that option would see the mill rate decrease by 1.37 mills to 64.13, meaning homeowners could see their bill decrease by $13.70 per $100,000 of value.
The third option would include the $155,132 request for new programs and the $20,196.39 request for new property without an increase to last year’s operations request. Rogers said that plan would see the mill rate decrease by 0.74 mills to 64.76, potentially lowering homeowners’ bills by $7.40 per $100,000 of value.
Rogers noted she typically presents different scenarios that can help balance the district’s budget when she presents to the board each year. But for a second consecutive year, that wasn’t necessary.
“I keep (the slide in the presentation) just to remind me of where we’ve come from,” she said. “I can say that we have written a budget that is balanced with revenues and anticipated expenditures.”
Robert Smith, CMSD board president, did not return calls and messages from The Dispatch by press time.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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