By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Hays USD 489 school district will exceed its revenue neutral rate, Chris Hipp, assistant superintendent for business services, told the school board on Monday.
Residents of the Hays school district should receive a notification in the mail about the decision next week.
The Ellis County valuation went up about 5% this year.
For a $200,000 home, which increased in valuation by 5%, the district's tax impact would increase by about 1.57% or $19.72
Hays' mill levy remains less than the state average and less than peer schools.
The Kansas Legislature enacted a law requiring any local taxing body to inform the public if the taxes it collects increase.
However, this might happen every year for communities whose valuations increase. The amount of the tax collected might increase, but the mill levy might not or even decrease.
The state collects 20 mills across Kansas for public schools. Those funds are redistributed at the state level through the school funding formula.
Hays also levies local option budget, capital outlay and bond mill levies.
These levies raised about $13.1 million for the 2023-24 school year at a rate of 31.31 mills. They are expected to raise $14.45 million for the 2024-25 school year at a rate of 32.72 mills.
The district would have to decrease its mill levies to 29.76 mills to keep the amount collected the same.
The Hays capital outlay levy has been set at 8 mills for years.
Hipp said capital state aid decreased from 8% to 3%.
The bond and interest mill levy went down slightly based on cash flow, Hipp said. The city sales tax the district receives for the bond projects has stayed solid, and that has helped that fund, he said.
The district also lost some supplemental general fund state aid, which slightly increased the local option budget. The state aid dropped from 26% state funding to 23%.
Hipp said an increase in state special education funding will increase the general fund, which will also affect the formula.
The school board is scheduled to have its revenue-neutral rate and budget hearings on Sept. 9.