DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — A divided Walton County School Board has voted to raise its millage rate to help fund new school construction.
Board members voted 3-2 Tuesday to change the capital improvement projects tax rate from last year’s 0.9 mills to 1.393 mills to keep up with growing enrollment.
The total millage rate levied will increase 0.646 mills to 5.659 mills. The change will increase the tax on a $200,000 home by $113 this year.
Sharon Roberts and board Vice Chairwoman Faye Leddon voted against the hike.
See the final budget and millage rates »
“We have scrimped and saved … and tried to make due with less for a long, long time,” board Chairman Mark Davis said before the vote. “We are finally to the point we have to do this.”
Davis said it was the first time the board imposed a locally-controlled tax increase since the 1998-99 school year.
Two residents spoke against the tax hike.
Doug Nolin, who served on the School Board in the 1980s, told board members the increase would hurt him financially and had a small poster of his finances.
Nolan declined to share the numbers with the audience, but walked the School Board through what tax hike would cost him.
Schools Superintendent Carlene Anderson said the increase was necessary because of overcrowding.
“You’ve still got to weigh the ability of people to pay,” Nolan said.
Resident Gary Souders also voiced concerns about the increase.
“We’ve had enough taxes,” he said. “We want you to stop raising taxes for everything you need.”
He said the timing of the increase was wrong, especially with so many people still struggling.
Davis was the only board member to speak before the vote was taken.
The board also approved a final budget for the 2013-14 school year.
The $99.9 million spending plan is about $200,000 less than the tentative budget presented this summer because the district had less money than anticipated at the end of the previous fiscal year, according to Mary Hobbs, the school district’s chief financial officer.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.
