EF considers 2.5% hike in property taxes

By CHRISTINE HAINES

chaines@yourmvi.com

The Elizabeth Forward School Board is expected to give preliminary approval next week to a $46,387,194 general fund budget with a 2.5% property tax increase.

Al Ragan, the district’s director of finance and operations, said that will mean a tax increase of $64.20 per $100,000 of assessed value.

“The Act 1 index allowed us to raise taxes by 4.2%,” he said. “I know the public is sensitive to tax increases and I know the district has expense increases. I’m trying to cut the taxpayers a break.”

Ragan  tax increases have averaged 4.5% in the district over the past five years, and taxes were raised to the maximum allowed under the index for at least the past two years.

Revenues for the coming school year are estimated at $45,954,329, Ragan said, including $500,000 in ESSER II federal CARES Act funds. Ragan said he was able to keep the proposed increase lower this year by using $432,865 from the district’s fund balance and the ESSER II money to meet the district’s expenses without a larger tax increase.

The 2.5% increase will generate about $410,000 for the district, Ragan said.

Ragan explained that the budget is based on a full year of the district providing all the things that normally happen in a school year, including all summer programs, a full year of busing and expenses related to things such as participating in playoff games.

“It’s all the things that didn’t happen during COVID,” Ragan said.

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