CCS proposed budget shows slight levy drop; tax askings up $25,000

    September means budget time and the CCS board of education will be taking a further look at the figures next week when the 2021-22 budget is before them.
    Patrons can comment on the budget at Tuesday’s 6 p.m. meeting at the school.
    Tax askings to support the budget will grow slightly, $25,097, to support the operating budget that exceeds the $10 million mark for the first time. The budget shows a tax request of $8,423,471 for next year, compared to $8,398,374 in the 2020-21 budget.
    However, taxpayers will see a drop in the levy of about three-quarters of 1 cent from .671011 to .663577 if the budget is approved as proposed.
    The drop in the levy can be attributed, in part, to the $17,804,250 increase in the district’s property valuation.
    According to the assessor’s office, CCS’s district valuation is now $1,269,405,104, up from the 2020 valuation of $1,251,600,854, about a 1.4% increase.
    The levy multiplied by each $100 of valuation on property is the figure used to assess taxes to support CCS.
    Up from last year’s $9,534,649 budget, the 2021-22 budget of $10,536,751 represents a 10.5% increase.  
    Supt. Adam Lambert said the budget looks like it’s a huge increase, but it’s not a tax increase.
    He said school budgets across the state are going to look much larger this year because the state requested schools include all COVID relief funds they received with other grant monies shown in the budget.
    For CCS, Lambert said $968,000 worth of special grant funds show up as a budget expenditure.
    Of that total, about $800,000 is from COVID funds received, he said. Since it is money being spent, the funds show as an expenditure.
    The public hearing on the budget will be the first item on the Sept. 14 agenda.