The Monday, August 1st Board of Education meeting for Geary USD 475 largely focused on understanding and approving for publication the proposed budget for the upcoming school year.
Geary USD 475 remains under block grant funding for the 2016-17 school year with the mill levy staying flat at 43.525.
This means that taxes will not increase. The district will continue to be “fiscally responsible”, as Dr. Corbin Witt, Superintendent, says – in order to keep taxes low or the same.
The proposed mill levy rate of 43.525 will provide an estimate $9,017,548 in local funding to the District.
Geary County USD 475 had the lowest mill levy rate out of the top 20 large schools in Kansas during the fiscal year 2015-2016; neighboring Manhattan had a mil levy of 55.960.
With the funding debacle in the state, USD 475 was fortunate enough to see only a $40,000 loss in funding, compared to the nearly $400,000 figures projected.
The district budget is the “legal authority” for spending and actual figures may be different than budgeted. In previous years, actual figures were lower than or equal to budgeted amounts.
Special education state aid increased by $156,762 for the District.
The budget was approved and will be published for 10 calendar days and then considered for final approval following a budget hearing at the August 15th meeting.
The final budget then goes to the County and State of Kansas by August 25, 2016 per state law where it is cemented and approved.
The proposed total budget for 2016-2017 is $23,715,000.