By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Hays USD 489 school board approved its budget Monday night after conducting budget and revenue-neutral rate hearings.
However, the discussion included some dissent from two of the school board members.
No one offered public comment during either the revenue-neutral rate nor the budget hearings.
The district will exceed its revenue-neutral rate. The USD 489's portion of the county valuation increased by about 1.43%.
Twenty mills of the property tax levy go to the state and are redistributed on a per-pupil basis. Local school boards have no control over that levy. The amount raised by that levy will increase because the valuation has increased, Hipp said.
The district approved a .447 mill increase in the tax levy for the supplemental general fund for the 2026 fiscal year.
The district is losing about $193,000 in state aid for the supplemental general fund, Hipp said, which means the net increase from that fund is only about $80,000.
The district also has an 8 mill capital outlay levy. That has remained the same for many years. The amount raised from the 8-mill levy will increase slightly because the valuation increased.
Taxes on a home valued at $239,000 will increase by about $36 per year, based on the district's mill levy and the increased assessed valuation, according to the school district. (See the chart above.)
An increase in salaries accounted for a significant portion of the budget increase, Hipp said on Monday.
The board approved a 2.5% salary increase for all employees in June.
Chris Hipp, assistant superintendent of business services, said the budgeting process begins in February with negotiations. The votes taken in September are the culmination of that process.
"At this stage of the game, the budget is established," he said.
"We continue to refine this budget through project planning and every meeting throughout the year," Hipp said.
Hipp said at this time of year, the district uses an estimated student count to work backward to determine the legal maximum for the budget.
"At this point in time, the money is allocated," he said. "The only plan B would be to spend contingency reserve to do the things that you have already committed to over the last three or four months or ..."
"We cut something," Ruder said.
Ruder said if the board refused to approve the budget, she wanted the cuts to be determined that night.
The district is under a deadline to finalize its budget by Sept. 20.
Board member Allen Park said, "You developed the budget with very little input from us. You bring us things to approve, but we are supposed to [explicitly] determine what we are doing to justify raising these taxes."
"I don't think we've done that," he said.
Ruder said, "When have taxes gone down? ... You have had every opportunity to question the administration. I reached out to Chris [Hipp] and Ron [Wilson] several times. Salary is one that we all voted on. Where are you going to cut?"
Park said he was voting against the tax increase because he believed the community had already been taxed enough following the passage of the bond issue.
"We keep taxing, taxing, taxing and not adjusting a little bit," he said.
The vote to approve exceeding the revenue-neutral rate passed 4-2, with Park and board member Jayme Goetz voting against. Board member Derek Yarmer was absent from the meeting.
The budget was approved on a vote of 5-1, with Park voting against.
The board also approved
• A bid of $69,328 from KCAV for 55 presentation display panels for Hays Middle School
• A contract with The Insurance Guys for the Hays High School Marketing Partnership — Founder Partner package. The Founder Package is priced at $7,500 per year for a three-year term. The business will receive static signage in the Gold auxiliary gym as well as digital advertising.