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Politics & Government

New Rate Set for Taxpayers in Fox School District

The Fox Board of Education also discussed increased enrollment across the district and approved bus routes.

Taxpayers living in the will be paying a few more dollars to support schools this year.

The total tax rate jumped by $0.0129 per $100 of assessed value. For a $150,000 home, the increase amounts to an extra $3.68 per year. The Fox Board of Education approved the tax increase during a meeting on Tuesday. The rate is retroactively effective July 1.

Last year, taxpayers paid $4.6044 per $100 in assessed value. It's $4.6173 this year.

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The tax provides revenue for the district’s budget, which started at the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1. District officials project revenues of $842.6 million from the real estate and personal property taxes.

That number is lower than last year's collection of $844 million in tax revenues.

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Most of the tax will fund the district's operating budget. Taxpayers will not be paying more to the debt service fund, just as they were promised during the district's earlier this month, said district treasurer James Berblinger.

Other notes from the board meeting

  • Enrollment: Enrollment has increased across of all of Fox schools, said Dan Baker, assistant superintendent of elementary education. Elementary enrollment is up by 16 students and high school enrollment is up by 166 students. Baker speculated that the state of the economy helped enrollment at the high school level because more families are moving into Jefferson County, which is more affordable for many families. As the economy rebounds and new homes are built in the Imperial area, Baker predicts that even more students will move into the southern end of the district.
  • Bus Fleet and Routes: The district will keep the same insurance carrier for the bus fleet and approved the district’s bus routes. Superintendent Dr. Dianne Critchlow praised the transportation department for starting the school year off smoothly despite a “monsoon” of rain on the second day of school. District officials also said they would upgrade the buses' communication radios to digital before winter because the Federal Communications Commission plans to narrow the bandwidth available to analog systems by next year.
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