Income tax surtax would increase 5 percent, property tax levy would decrease
Preliminary discussion of the levy rate for the voted physical plant and equipment levy (PPEL) in the Greene County Community School District for 2015 calls for a total levy of $1.20, less than the $1.34 approved by voters last September.
The voted PPEL was approved to be a combination of an income tax surcharge and property tax. Superintendent Tim Christensen recommended to the Greene County school board at its Feb. 12 meeting a 5 percent surcharge and a blended property tax levy of $12.97 (per $1,000 taxable valuation). That levy rate includes the uniform state levy, the local levy and the new PPEL. The levy would raise approximately $560,000 in PPEL funds.
Taxpayers already pay a 7 percent surcharge for schools on their Iowa income tax. Adding 5 percent, bringing the total surtax to 12 percent, would raise about $292,000, Christensen said.
The board has been working with a prioritized 10-year plan for expenditures from voted PPEL funds. The first year includes $560,000 in projects. With a 5 percent surtax, $267,000 would be required from a property tax levy to meet that total.
Christensen reminded the board that due to state incentives for reorganization, property owners in the J-S and EG districts will pay different school property tax levies for three years. After a series of calculations, the end result is a blended levy rate (rather like an average rate) of $12.97. J-S property owners would pay $13.14 and EG property owners would pay $12.60.
In both districts, that is a decrease in levies compared to the current levy. J-S property owners now pay a total school levy of $13.85; EG voters pay $13.81.
“We’d be setting the property tax levy at a rate where everything would come down,”Christensen said.
“I like the balance, given the fact the property tax is going down,” board member Mark Peters said.
The school must approve a budget by April 15. A public hearing will be held prior to that date.
