PATTONVILLE • They’ve reduced staff, frozen administrator salaries and even closed a school to save money in recent years, but Pattonville officials say the school district can no longer keep pace without raising taxes.
The district is asking voters on the Nov. 5 ballot to raise its operating tax rate ceiling of $4.11 by nearly a dollar. But Superintendent Mike Fulton said the district will limit the impact on homeowners to a 35-cent increase for each $100 of assessed valuation.
“The challenges we face are real and not going to go away,” Fulton said. “We can try to maintain the level of staffing and services, or we are going to have to do things very differently.”
Cuts since 2007 have totaled $8.1 million, including slashing summer programs and school budgets. Overall spending this year on teacher and support staff salaries and benefits saw no increase.
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Chief Financial Officer Ron Orr said the district’s operating expenses have risen just a half percent on average because of those cost-cutting measures. The last time voters approved an operating tax-rate increase was 22 years ago. The district hit its approved tax-rate ceiling of $4.11 in 2011.
If the tax increase doesn’t pass, the district may reduce staff by 80 to 100 positions, freeze salaries indefinitely, eliminate bus transportation for students who live less than 3 miles from school, stop buying new textbooks and charge a fee for extracurricular activities, officials said.
In Pattonville, more than just the economic downturn has hurt the school district’s revenue.
In total, successful commercial property tax appeals have required Pattonville to refund $13.1 million since 2005, Orr said. Currently, a tax protest by Harrah’s, now Hollywood Casino, is pending. Harrah’s owners asked the appeals board to lower the value of its property so it would pay taxes on $139 million, although the casino recently sold for $610 million. If Harrah’s wins, Pattonville will lose an additional $1.5 million in operating revenue and $200,000 in debt service funds.
In the last 15 years, the district also lost property tax revenue from the homes demolished in the expansion at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. The demise of Northwest Plaza mall also hurt.
Sara Jane Rybarczyk, a parent of two in the district, has seen the effects, such as the loss of many summer school options. She favors the tax increase, and if it fails, she is concerned about what will happen to extracurricular programs, teachers and classroom sizes.
“The cuts and streamlining – we don’t want to see anymore,” she said.
If the proposition passes, a 35-cent increase would mean the owner of a $125,000 house would pay about $82 more a year in taxes. A simple majority is required for passage.
