D51 to seek voter OK on mill levy override

By Emily Shockley
Tuesday, August 23, 2011

District 51 school board members voted Tuesday morning to place a mill levy override question on this November’s ballot.

The question will ask voters to approve a fixed mill levy rate of 7 mills for six years. Money from the override will remain in District 51 and would be charged in addition to the 24.214 mill rate currently used in the property tax formula to generate money for District 51.

Seven mills would result in an estimated $12.5 million for the district each year, as long as home values remain stable. If home values decrease, the amount of money that would go to the district from the override would also decrease.

For example, seven mills would result in a $111.44 tax bill for one year, or about $9.29 a month. But if that home’s value decreased to, say, $180,000, the homeowner would pay $100.30 that year under a seven-mill rate.

If the measure is approved by voters living within District 51 boundaries, property taxpayers would first see the change on the tax bill they receive in January, according to District 51 Executive Director of Support Services Melissa Callahan DeVita.

Read the full story in Wednesday’s Daily Sentinel.