Sikeston R-6 Board of Education sets tax levy

Sikeston R-6 Board Attorney/Secretary Bryan Nickell (left) watches as Board President Deke Lape sign the Estimate of Required Local Taxes form, which is filed with the county collector offices, following the school board's approval Thursday of the tax levy for the 2014-2015 school year. (Leonna Heuring, Staff)

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston R-6 Board of Education set its tax levy during a special session Thursday at the district's Central Office.

During the public hearing, board members approved the new operating tax levy of $3.6025 per $100 valuation, which is slightly lower than the 2013-2014 levy.

"Our operating levy is subject to a tax ceiling calculation, and that goes back to the Hancock Amendment," said Lori Boardman, R-6 director of Business Services.

The Board adopted the state-calculated tax ceiling rate of 3.6025. At the administration's recommendation, the debt service levy was maintained at 21 cents by the Board approving a 2-cent rollback (reduction in tax rate).

The levy is broken down as follows: operating rate is $3.6025; and debt service at 21 cents for a total tax rate of $3.8125.

In Scott County, there was a 3.2 percent growth in assessed valuation. Historically, we see growth of 1.5 to 2 percent; 93 percent of this growth was in personal property," Boardman said.

Tax increment financing, or TIF, amounts showed only a slight decrease.

New Madrid County had a 1.3 percent growth in assessed valuation, which is the typical growth for the county historically, Boardman said.

"The big change in assessed valuation occurred in the lager decrease in TIF," Boardman said. "The city of Sikeston closed out a TIF zone resulting in the large decrease. This TIF decrease means the district will collect taxes on an additional $5.4 million during the 2014-2015 school year.

The Board also approved a resolution for the early payoff of the 2005 General Obligation Bonds in the amount of of $525,000.

"The Board passed a similar resolution at our June 24 meeting for $475,000," Boardman told the Board. "Once we got our new assessed value after the board of equalizations from both counties, we had some growth in both counties, and we had a large amount of tax increment financed assessed valuations released, which means we will collect more dollars in 2014-2015 school year."

The district's goal is to keep the debt service rate at 21 cents, Boardman said.

"We'll pay off early $525,000 of the general obligation debt and so debt service lets us collect enough revenue to pay our payments for this year, our payments for next year and in addition to that, the early pay off in March 2016," Boardman said. "We'll save all the interest on the $525,000, which is money the taxpayers won't have to pay."