What’s happening
As SISD faces a $25 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2024-25, trustees discussed the possible November VATRE for the second time April 9. Trustees voted 6-1—with board Secretary Kelly P. Hodges dissenting—in favor of ordering a community survey.
The survey is expected to cost $21,000-$28,000, Chief Financial Officer Ann Westbrooks said April 4, and the results should be available in May. The cost of holding a VATRE would be about $200,000, but SISD would be required to pay that cost anyway if any trustees up for election in November are opposed, Westbrooks said.
“[The survey is] an investment, but it's an investment that tells us if we should make a further investment,” Westbrooks said April 4. “The end result would be the opportunity for the community to make a decision based on factual data that we share with them as to whether or not they would approve ... the voter-[approval] tax rate election.”
Those in favor
Two SISD teachers—Paul Chubinski and Patrick Fairbanks—spoke in favor of a VATRE on April 9. Fairbanks, a teacher at Westfield High School, said a successful VATRE increasing taxes for the district’s largely commercial tax base could do a lot of good for SISD.
“It's about time the businesses that benefit from workers educated through our district pay their fair share back to the community. ... Every year [SISD teachers’] pay has not increased at least commensurate with inflation. We're actually taking a pay cut to continue working,” Fairbanks said.
How we got here
On March 19, trustees considered a VATRE for this November for the first time, but requested more information for the board's next meeting. Westbrooks presented information on a potential VATRE, which would raise the district’s maintenance and operations tax rate by $0.03 per $100 taxable value if approved by voters in November.
If a board of trustees approves a tax rate above the voter-approval tax rate—a maintenance and operations rate of $0.6692—voters then must consider the tax rate in an election, according to Westbrook’s presentation.
The additional $0.03 to the district’s M&O rate from an approved VATRE would generate an estimated additional $10 million in recurring revenue, Westbrooks said.
Learn more
SISD trustees have not yet considered tax rates for fiscal year 2024-25 and typically approve annual tax rates in September. SISD’s total tax rate of $1.1092 per $100 valuation for FY 2023-24 is made up of:
- An M&O tax rate of $0.6692 per $100 valuation
- An interest and sinking tax rate of $0.44 per $100 valuation
