Grand County School District officials are backing away from a prior request for additional property tax revenue, but under the law, the school board will still be holding a previously scheduled hearing on the matter.
The Grand County Board of Education will hold a “Truth in Taxation” hearing at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 6, at the district’s office, 264 S. 400 East. The hearing is open to the public.
Each year, the board is required to adopt an annual budget by June 30.
Part of the budget approval process includes setting the tax rates for property in the Grand County School District’s boundaries by June 22 of each year. Because of the tight time window of receiving tax numbers from the state and setting the tax rates by the June 22 deadline, the board decided to hold the Truth in Taxation hearing to allow for more time to sort out the intricate details of the budget, district officials said.
During its budget hearing on June 19, the education board tentatively set an increase for the 2019-20 school year at $75,000, which triggered the need to hold the Aug. 6 hearing.
However, since the budget hearing, district administrators said they’ve determined that budgetary demands can be met with the existing taxes, so they’ll recommend that the board not include the request for $75,000 in this year’s budget. However, the hearing will continue as scheduled under Utah statute.
In 2008, Grand County voters passed a bond for Helen M. Knight Elementary and the Technical Science and Arts Center at Grand County High School. That bond was issued for 20 years, and nine annual payments are remaining.
Eight years later, county voters passed a “Voted Local Levy” for the purpose of raising staff salaries and implementing critical programs.
Part of the commitment was to implement the levy over a five-year period: In 2017, the tax rate for the levy was 0.000200; in 2018, the rate was 0.000400; and in 2019, the rate will be set at 0.000600, according to district officials.
Over a period of eight years, the education board slowly raised funds to build a new middle school. Construction work on the new school began this past month, and with the tax base already in place, district officials said the board will not have to raise taxes to cover construction-related costs.
For more information, contact Robert Farnsworth at farnsworthr@grandschools.org.
State-mandated “Truth in Taxation” hearing set for Aug. 6
