Proposed Burrell budget calls for 2.9% real estate tax increase

The Burrell School Board is proposing a $34.7 million budget with a 2.9% real estate tax increase for the 2022-23 school year.

The owner of a home with an average assessed value of $22,900 will see a tax increase of $68; under the Homestead Act exclusion, the same owner would pay a $21 tax increase, the district’s business administrator Jennifer S. Callahan said.

The proposed budget is 6% higher than the 2021-22 budget of $32.7 million.

Coming off the past two years of the pandemic, board President Pam Key said she thought the board and administration crafted a “wonderful budget.”

It was the first time in recent years when the district didn’t have a deficit, she said.

Callahan shaved off some expenses in the preliminary budget, closed a $233,000 deficit and presented the final budget to the board Tuesday night.

Originally, the proposed final budget was set with a 3.5-mill tax increase with a $233,415 deficit. Cost reductions and an increase in the state subsidy eliminated the deficit and allowed the tax increase to be decreased to 3 mills, Callahan said.

The budget proposes a millage increase from the current 104 mills to 107 mills.

Key said the board and administration worked hard to fulfill its educational mission and to be fiscally responsible to taxpayers.

Each year, the district has to work with fixed expenses and increases in wages and money toward retirement funds.

Driving the tax increase are the tax appeals on commercial properties, which decreased the district’s real estate tax revenue by about $615,000, or about 4 mills of tax, Callahan said.

On the positive side, there was an increase in the state basic education subsidy and $862,000 in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds.

The board is expected to vote on the final budget during its meeting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 21 in the high school board room, 1021 Puckety Church Road.