The South Summit Board of Education will hold a truth in taxation hearing next week and while taxes are going up, residents of the district won’t be paying more than they were a year ago.
The tax hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 13 at 6 p.m in the board room at the school district offices, 285 E. 400 South, Kamas.
Superintendent Shad Sorenson says the proposed increase is just more than 3% - and will result in an additional $35 in taxes for a home valued at $418,000 and about $64 dollars on a business the same value.
While that increase will result in an additional $392,000 coming to the district, Sorenson says the money out of the taxpayers’ pocket will remain the same due to new growth.
“I paid $50 last year; I can expect to pay $50 this year,” Sorenson said. “And that's how the board looked at that, increasing the tax rate, so that it dollar-wise wasn't a tax increase for people that are living here - but because of growth had brought in revenue to the district.”
All of the money, he says, will be used to bump up staff salaries, especially for the teachers.
“One of the things that we have recognized as we've studied our salary schedule is that we're more competitive on the back end, meaning faculty that have taught more years in the district than we were on the front end. And on the front end this year, we will be at $45,578,” he said. “Our goal is to get that to at least $50,000. Many of the Wasatch Front districts are $50,000. Park City is above that. Wasatch just moved to that and so we're still lagging behind even with this increase that we were able to do.”
Every staff member, he says, will receive at least a 2% raise. While the tax rate would have gone down this year due to the new growth in the district, Sorenson says the board worked the numbers to keep the out of pocket expense the same as it was a year ago, but it’s still considered a tax increase.
