(C) Verite News New Orleans This story was originally published by Verite News New Orleans and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . School board vote could mean tax hike for homeowners this month [1] ['Minh Ha', 'More Minh Ha', 'Verite News'] Date: 2024-01-16 A vote by the Orleans Parish School Board this week could mean higher tax bills for the city’s homeowners later this month. On Thursday, the board is scheduled to vote on whether to “roll forward” its property taxes used for schools in New Orleans. A vote in favor would maintain current property tax rates, which would mean higher tax bills because of increased property values around the city. A full roll forward would mean about $30 million more in local taxes going toward school operations, teacher salaries, supplies and school building repairs. But it would also mean putting additional financial pressure on residents already reeling from skyrocketing property insurance and utility bills. (The owner of a $300,000 home with a homestead exemption would have to pay $123 more if all six property taxes that go to local schools are rolled forward.) Citing those increased costs, other local property taxing bodies — most notably the New Orleans City Council, which controls property taxes that pay for general city operations along with those that go to the police, fire department and the Sewerage & Water Board — opted to roll back tax rates this year. The council asked others to do the same, but Orleans Parish School Board President Olin Parker said last week that he worries leaving the additional tax dollars on the table could jeopardize the gains in student performance that charter schools in the NOLA Public Schools district have seen in the past several years. “We’re the only urban district in the state that has surpassed its pre-pandemic levels on assessments, we are very much on an upward trajectory,” he said. “I don’t think now’s the time, given everything that students and teachers have gone through, to say, ‘We’re going to cut your funding by fully rolling back.’”New Orleans saw an 18% increase in total property values in last year’s citywide assessment, according to the Orleans Parish Assessor’s Office, which performs an assessment every four years. Louisiana state law requires all taxing authorities, like the School Board and City Council, to reduce their millage rates when an assessment finds an increase in property values. This process is called “mandatory rollback,” meaning millage rates would automatically decrease to offset the increase and keep funding levels revenue-neutral. Taxing authorities, however, can then take a second vote to roll the rates forward. The School Board is the largest taxing agency in the city, making up about a third of all citywide property tax levies. It was also behind this year’s delayed property tax bills, which typically come out by the end of December but are pushed back to the end of this month. This was because the school district had to wait on the Louisiana Department of Education and the Louisiana Legislative Auditor to certify its totals and determine how the reassessment would impact its state funding. That funding is based in part on local property assessments. When property values increase, state funding decreases. This year, state per-pupil funding for New Orleans schools is set to drop by about $8.1 million, or $184 per student, according to an analysis NOLA Public Schools district staff prepared for the Thursday board meeting. That will happen regardless of how the board votes this week. So while a full roll-forward would mean a net increase of about $22 million in funding, a full roll-back could mean a budget cut. Parker said he is considering something in between: a partial roll-forward. “I understand the desire to roll back all the millages, and I understand the pressure that voters are under, economic pressures outside of our control,” Parker said. “But voters of Orleans Parish have shown multiple times in the last two years that they are willing to support education. I’m extremely grateful for that they passed the Early Childhood Education millage, which expanded access to early childhood seats.” Last fall, New Orleans voters also approved a renewal of the Capital Repair Millage, or the School Facility Preservation Program. That millage, along with earmarked sales tax funds, will yield about $720 million over the next 20 years, according to the school district. The district said that cash will allow the school board to pad its emergency fund and plan for capital replacements in schools. Parker said he is considering rolling forward millages that go towards employee pay and instructional materials. Increased funding via taxes means schools in the district would have all the needed resources to implement what the state considers the highest quality instructional materials and curriculum, called “Tier 1.” “I know there’s been a lot of funding for the move to Tier 1 curriculum across the state,” he said. “I want to talk to school leaders, I want to talk to [Stuart Gay, the chief financial officer for the NOLA Public Schools district] and get an understanding of whether schools actually need that funding for curriculum as well.” If the board decides to roll forward just those two tax rates, the impact to homeowners would be significantly more modest than a full roll-forward: about $24 in additional taxes for a $300,000 house with a homestead exemption. “Obviously, if they only roll forward one or two, that’s going to be less of an increase for homeowners than if they rolled forward all of it,” said Susie Dudis, a research analyst with the Bureau of Governmental Research, a local public policy think tank. But if a home’s value has increased, she added, any roll forward could result in a higher tax bill. Correction: An earlier version of this story included a quote, from Susie Dudis of the Bureau of Governmental Research, who slightly misspoke about the effects of a roll-forward vote on property owners’ tax bills. The quote has been removed and Dudis’ meaning clarified. Related Stories Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. [END] --- [1] Url: https://veritenews.org/2024/01/16/school-board-vote-could-mean-tax-hike-for-homeowners-this-month/ Published and (C) by Verite News New Orleans Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 US. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/veritenews/