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School tax rate decreases
By Byron Painter
Editor
For the 11th time in 13 years, the tax rate for the Riverton school district has decreased.
But that does not guarantee that your total tax bill will actually drop.
The tax rate is applied to determine the portion of each person’s tax bill that goes to the school district. Last year, the overall tax rate went from $4.0379 per $100 of equalized
assessed value down to $3.9675. The rate has dropped over $.75 since its high in 1995 ($4.7538). This year marks the first time in over 20 years that the tax rate has declined
to under $4.000.
One main reason for the tax rate being lowered each year, according to Riverton superintendent Tom Mulligan, is tax caps.
“Caps do not allow our rates on all of our non-bond and interest funds to increase in aggregate,” he said “In other words, our tax rate is limited (called limiting rate) under tax
caps.
“We were aggressive at setting our bond and interest schedule so that we would see a certain percent increase in Equalized Assessed Value (EAV) each year so that the bond
and interest rate would go down,” he continued, thus making the overall rate go down.
Another main reason is that the district is fiscally conservative and “has not ever gone to the voters for approval on anyrate besides the bond and interest rate,” according to
Mulligan. “The board and superintendent feel an obligation to the property taxpayers in the school district to take good care of taxpayer money and only go to the voters when
absolutely necessary.”
Riverton had the seventh lowest operating expense per pupil in the state (out of 804 districts).
“We work very hard at providing fiscal accountability for everyone involved in the district,” said Mulligan.
But just because the district has lowered its tax rate does not mean the overall tax bill will automatically drop.
If a homeowner’s property is assessed higher, other taxing bodies may get more money from that homeowner, just not the school district.
If a property owner’s EAV (equalized assessed valuation) stays the same, the portion of tax money going to Riverton schools will drop.
Also, tax caps only allow to tax CPI (a cost of living index used by the county for tax levy purposes) on existing property.
The EAV this year for existing property went up five percent, but the district was only able to tax half of that because of the CPI.
The district saw a two percent gain in new property and it can fully tax new property in the first year. In essence, according to Mulligan, the district saw an increase of 4.5 percent
in extension for next year while still being able to lower the tax rate.
By Byron Painter
Editor
For the 11th time in 13 years, the tax rate for the Riverton school district has decreased.
But that does not guarantee that your total tax bill will actually drop.
The tax rate is applied to determine the portion of each person’s tax bill that goes to the school district. Last year, the overall tax rate went from $4.0379 per $100 of equalized
assessed value down to $3.9675. The rate has dropped over $.75 since its high in 1995 ($4.7538). This year marks the first time in over 20 years that the tax rate has declined
to under $4.000.
One main reason for the tax rate being lowered each year, according to Riverton superintendent Tom Mulligan, is tax caps.
“Caps do not allow our rates on all of our non-bond and interest funds to increase in aggregate,” he said “In other words, our tax rate is limited (called limiting rate) under tax
caps.
“We were aggressive at setting our bond and interest schedule so that we would see a certain percent increase in Equalized Assessed Value (EAV) each year so that the bond
and interest rate would go down,” he continued, thus making the overall rate go down.
Another main reason is that the district is fiscally conservative and “has not ever gone to the voters for approval on anyrate besides the bond and interest rate,” according to
Mulligan. “The board and superintendent feel an obligation to the property taxpayers in the school district to take good care of taxpayer money and only go to the voters when
absolutely necessary.”
Riverton had the seventh lowest operating expense per pupil in the state (out of 804 districts).
“We work very hard at providing fiscal accountability for everyone involved in the district,” said Mulligan.
But just because the district has lowered its tax rate does not mean the overall tax bill will automatically drop.
If a homeowner’s property is assessed higher, other taxing bodies may get more money from that homeowner, just not the school district.
If a property owner’s EAV (equalized assessed valuation) stays the same, the portion of tax money going to Riverton schools will drop.
Also, tax caps only allow to tax CPI (a cost of living index used by the county for tax levy purposes) on existing property.
The EAV this year for existing property went up five percent, but the district was only able to tax half of that because of the CPI.
The district saw a two percent gain in new property and it can fully tax new property in the first year. In essence, according to Mulligan, the district saw an increase of 4.5 percent
in extension for next year while still being able to lower the tax rate.
Issue Date: April 10, 2008
