The Mahomet-Seymour School Board approved the tentative 2020 tax levy within the consent agenda at the Nov. 16 board meeting. The tax levy will be on display for public comment and input until Dec. 14, at which time the board will vote on the final levy during a public board meeting.
The finance committee, including Merle Giles and Ken Keefe, gave a thumbs up to the levy when Chief School Business Officer Heather Smith presented the levy on Nov. 10.
The committee decided to bypass a truth in taxation hearing, which is only mandated by state law when the levy will exceed 5-percent.
This year’s levy will not exceed that rate.
The percentage of tax in a levy is often difficult to predict, as much of the levy is based on two factors: the dollar amount that the taxing body levies for and the actual equalized assessed value. When taxing bodies prepare to levy for taxes, they only have an estimated equalized assessed value (EAV) set by the County Assessor.
Mahomet-Seymour set a 2020 levy amount of $15,256,523 after the Champaign County Assessor predicted a 3.79-percent increase ($381,231,923) in EAV. The district used a slightly higher estimate for the EAV in calculating the levy amounts, 4.5%, to ensure the school does not lose money if the actual EAV is a bit off from that estimate.
Using either estimate for the EAV, the actual taxing percentage per amount of assessed value is not expected to increase, although the value of homes may have increased over the last year.
The predicted EAV does not always come out in actual EAV. In 2019, the district levied for $14,649,088 on a 3.9-percent EAV increase estimated to be $370,631,385. The actual EAV was $367,318,622.
The $15,256,523 will be distributed as such: $9,404,275 for educational purposes $1,919,240 for operations and maintenance purposes; $767,696 for transportation purposes; $191,924 for a working cash fund; $700,000 for municipal retirement purposes; $700,000 x for social security purposes; $191,924 for fire prevention, safety, energy conservation, disabled accessibility, school security and specified repair purposes; $1,036,000 for tort immunity purposes; $153,539 for special education purposes; $191,924 for leasing of educational facilities or computer technology or both, and temporary relocation expense purposes.
