Mt. Pleasant Area School District property owners will see 1 mill added to their tax bills to help support the district’s 2024-25 budget of more than $38.1 million.

That final spending plan approved Wednesday, June 26, represents a decrease from the $38.8 million tentative budget total proposed in May, when district officials were contemplating a potential 3-mill tax hike.

Business manager J.R. Dzurica said the district eliminated some planned expenditures and revisited its revenue projections, reducing the need for a bigger tax increase.

“We were able to bump up some of our tax revenue,” Dzurica said. “Our earned income and real estate transfer taxes have been very strong over the last two years.”

For many participating property owners, homestead/farmstead tax relief funded from state gambling revenue should more than make up for the local real estate tax increase to 93.82 mills.

According to Dzurica, a taxpayer whose home has a median assessed value of $16,840 — reflecting a market value of $181,000 — will have $16.84 added to the tax bill. But, with a calculated tax relief credit of $45, there actually would be a net reduction of about $28 in the school property tax, Dzurica said.

The final budget passed on a 7-2 school board vote, with Sean Hribal and Eric Poole opposed.

The district is projecting overall revenue of $37.8 million in 2024-25, an increase of nearly 2.7% from the previous year. Expenditures are going up by 2.5%, from about $37.2 million.

According to Dzurica, the district is expected to save $72,000 by no longer providing transportation for after-school tutoring or summer school sessions. “We’ll still offer the programs, but we won’t have the transportation with it,” he said.

The cost for that transportation had been covered by federal pandemic relief funding, which will be phased out as of September.

Transfer of $32,000 from the district capital reserve fund will pay for refurbishing the junior high gym floor. The district will delay the purchase of a carpet scrubber.

It will tap its budgetary reserve for $86,000, to help cover unexpected expenses, Dzurica said.

Mt. Pleasant Area expects to end the coming fiscal year with a fund balance of $3.8 million, equalling nearly 10% of budgeted expenses.

“The absolute minimum we would want to go to is 5% of expenses,” Dzurica said. “It’s important to have money in the bank to pay the bills.”