Bozeman School Board Approves Property Tax Levy For Upcoming Election

The Bozeman School Board voted unanimously to approve a property tax levy for the highschool and elementary school district for the May 3 election.

Tuesday is the last day that school administrators can set local levy amounts so without knowing what the legislature will decide, they are putting the maximum possible amount on the ballot that it could be for a local voter.

Worst case scenario, school administrators will ask for a little over $250,000 in local taxes for the high schools, and a little over $220,000 in local taxes for the elementary schools.

For the high school district, it would be an approximately 1.17 mil increase which amounts to a $1.85 increase per a $100,000 taxable market value home. For the elementary school district, it would be an approximately .67 mil increase which amounts to a $1.06 increase per a $100,000 taxable market value home. This means the total impact would be an increase on your tax bill of less than $2.

"The total tax impact will either be $1.76 per $100,000 if the law stays in place, or about $1.14 with both districts together per $100,000 if there is school funding which is currently being discussed in the legislature," said Bozeman Schools Superintendent Dr. Kirk Miller.

The entire amount may not be levied depending on legislative decisions which is why at this point they are using the worst case scenario.

Dr. Miller says they expect a 1.4 to 2.1 million dollar shortfall in the budget next year depending on what the legislature decides to do.

The link to access the BSD7 School Election Presentation is   http://tinyurl.com/4jsthrg