School district taxes to stay the same

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School taxes will not increase this year.

That’s what the Hudson School Board was told at a special meeting Tuesday where they voted to certify the 2008-09 school tax levy.

When certified, the mill rate, the amount charged to residents per $1,000 of property valuation, will be $7.04, the same as last year. That is less than the $7.48 that was reported at the district’s annual meeting in September.

The change comes in part because state aid, expected to decrease because of an added $190,000,000 of district property valuation from a former TIF (Tax Increment Finance) district, will not go down for the 2008-09 school year. That valuation will not be included in the state’s school aid calculations until next year.

In addition, the district will apply half of a onetime payment from the city of Hudson for the TIF district closeout, $929,606, to operating costs for the current school year. The second half will be applied to the 2009-10 operating budget.

According to information provided by district communication specialist Tracy Habisch-Ahlin, the city’s original estimate of TIF revenue was calculated into the 2008-09 budget presented at the annual meeting. The budget and levy presented then reflected a decrease in state aid as a result of the increased property valuation from the TIF district.

Habisch-Ahlin said that the district only recently learned that the state aid calculations based on the TIF revenues will not impact the district’s budget until next year.

Tags: education, hudson, school, taxes