A preliminary budget report says property values inside the Park City School District boundaries normally grow around 8% each year. Last year, property values increased 39%. That’s $7.3 billion in additional assessed value, according to the report. Growth of that magnitude hasn’t been seen locally since just before the Great Recession.
That increase in value means tax rates will decrease. According to the preliminary budget, tax bills for primary residents will be $21 lower for every $100,000 their home is worth. Rates are set to decrease despite the tax the district is introducing to pay for its $130 million facilities plan, and the proposed tax increase to pay for educator salaries.
But with home values increasing so quickly, the decreased tax rate could still lead to a tax increase for those whose homes are worth much more than last year.
In addition to the tax changes, the school board is scheduled to consider funding for several other positions and initiatives after a public hearing Tuesday evening. The board had discussed raising taxes by $800,000 for educator salaries. That’s how much was anticipated in a compensation package negotiated three years ago. Now, the proposed increase is $1.6 million to offset cost increases related to housing and inflation.
The preliminary budget also includes $600,000 for a “Safe, Supportive and Inclusive Schools” team and materials, $345,000 to recruit and retain administrators and $220,000 for public relations work and a new spokesperson.
Absent from the preliminary budget is the $240,000 line item for diversity, equity and inclusion that was in the previously discussed budget.
Business Administrator Todd Hauber said the $600,000 inclusive schools team, which would include four full-time staff members, represents “a different approach” to the diversity, equity and inclusion initiative.
A description calls for “several positions that will cross over all program areas and train and inform employees of unrecognized biases and methods to be more inclusive in our behaviors and practices.”
The growth in property values does not result in skyrocketing revenues for the district. Park City has to send millions back to the state each year in a process known as recapture. Using numbers from March, the tentative budget anticipated $15 million in recapture this fiscal year. The preliminary budget, using numbers from this month, now expects that number to be $24 million.
At the meeting, the board is also set to evaluate employment contracts for Hauber and Superintendent Jill Gildea. The proposed contracts were not publicly available Monday evening.
Gildea signed a two-year contract last June. Hauber said the board’s normal pattern is to evaluate the superintendent’s contract annually, though contracts are typically extended for two years.
The board is set to meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the district offices, 2700 Kearns Blvd. The meeting will also be streamed on the district’s YouTube page, which can be found by searching YouTube for “PCSD communication.” The budget hearing is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
If the board does vote to increase taxes, there will be further opportunities for public comment this summer, known as Truth in Taxation hearings.
