The Lawrence school board on Monday approved its 2024-25 budget, which will slightly increase the property tax rate.
At the beginning of Monday’s meeting, the board held two five-minute open hearings in which the public was welcomed to provide comments on the plan to exceed the revenue neutral rate and this year’s budget. No one participated in either hearing.
Later in the meeting, the board approved with a 7-0 vote the budget for the 2024-25 school year without any discussion. During the previous board meeting on Aug. 26, Executive Director of Finance Cynde Frick gave a presentation before the board voted to approve the district’s maximum budget for publication.
The now-approved maximum budget includes a new mill levy of 52.252, which is a .042-mill increase over last year’s approved rate of 52.210.
The increase is fairly small, but most property owners saw their assessed valuations increase significantly. The district’s total assessed valuation for the general fund has increased by about 6.7%. The board would have to lower the mill rate to keep taxes flat. The budget calls for the maximum of 33% allowed under state statutes for the district’s local option budget.
The median value of a Lawrence home in 2022 was $247,300. Under the approved budget, the owner of that home would pay the district about $1,245.66 in property taxes — $1 more than the previous year.
But if that home’s value increased by the Douglas County average of 6.89%, to $264,339, the owner would pay the district $1,348 in property taxes — an increase of $102.
In other business, board members called for the Kansas Legislature to pass sensible gun laws and welcomed Jeanice Swift for her first meeting as interim superintendent. Read more about that in this article.
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
