NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The budget and revenue neutral rate hearings for Buhler USD 313 are coming up next week.
"The Board of Education's goal is to try to hold that mill levy as flat as possible," said Shane Hecox with the district. "It looks like we're going to just be, just a few hundredths of a point under what we were last year, as far as the mill levy is concerned."
Nonetheless, with a 3.8% valuation increase, Buhler USD 313 will levy more taxes this year than last.
"There's going to be very few school districts in the state of Kansas that don't exceed the Revenue Neutral Rate on a yearly basis, because the valuations are going up," said USD 313 Superintendent Cindy Couchman. "We also have increased expenses, right, just like you and your homeowners, gas expenses are going up and goods are going up. Our expectation isn't that we raise the same amount of money every year. We will need to raise more money every year to cover those increased expenses."
In addition, the percentage of excess cost of special education funded by the state continues to drop.
"The state is supposed to be funding at 92%," Couchman said. "This year, it's predicted, it's only going to be at 70."
Technically, the prediction is for 70.8%, with a drop into the mid 60s next year, if no changes happen at either the federal or state level. This doesn't just have an effect on special ed students, because all of the cost not funded has to come out of the general fund, so every child is negatively impacted.