The Town of Webb UFSD Board of Education has approved a proposed 2012–2013 budget that will be put up for vote on Tuesday, May 15th.
The proposed budget shows a .26 percent increase of $19,829 over last year’s budget, bringing the total proposed budget amount to $7,572,695.
Superintendent Rex Germer said the increase is largely due to basic inflationary costs and increases in the cost of general operations and health care.
The budget, he said, serves to satisfy the requirements of the district’s existing contracts while also providing for state requirements.“We don’t have any cuts in programs or faculty that we are looking at in this current budget,” he said.
Additionally, the district has been able to add a student- and teacher-requested rhetoric and debate elective to next year’s program, with another proposed elective possible.
In preparation of voting day, Germer and District Treasurer Jennifer Dunn have been hosting a series of public meetings around the district.
The third and final meeting is scheduled to take place in the TOW UFSD Gymnasium on Tuesday, May 8 at 7 p.m. where residents are encouraged to bring their questions and concerns. According to Dunn, the tax rates proposed in the budget are based on property assessments for 2011, and not the amounts proposed in the 2012 revaluation, which has yet to be finalized in the Town of Webb.
“We had to base our numbers off of something concrete, and we knew the 2011 numbers at the time [the budget was created] to set our tax rate. So, that’s where these tax rates are coming from,” Dunn said.
Which means there will likely be a change in the tax rate, once the final assessment has been filed in a couple months.
At this time, however, the tax rate is shown to have an increase of nine cents per thousand.
Superintendent Germer said the district is projecting that the per-thousand tax rate will end up decreasing from the proposed budget amount, once the assessment roll has been updated.
The budget vote will be held in the school gymnasium from 2 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15th.
