Jefferson sets new tax levy
In the News
Jefferson’s new tax levy comes at a benefit to the citizens of the district.
During the annual tax rate hearing which preceded Wednesday night’s monthly meeting of the Jefferson C-123 School Board, superintendent Tim Jermain presented the district’s 2017-2018 tax levy information.
The unadjusted levy is worth $6.6099 per $100 of assessed property valuation, with the amount breaking down into a $5.8599 levy for incidental funds and $.7500 for the debt service fund. However, according to Jermain, Jefferson is one of around 50 districts in the state of Missouri who still take advantage of “Proposition C” funding.
“Proposition C” is also known as the Missouri School and Highway Tax Proposition and was passed on Nov. 2, 1982. It allows schools like Jefferson to take advantage of an additional one cent sales tax to supplement the district’s revenue.
As part of the agreement, Jefferson gives half of that revenue back to the people in the district in the form of a commensurate decrease in the annual tax levy. The result is that Jefferson’s incidental fund levy was lowered to $5.4939, with the debt service levy remaining steady at $.7500.
As a result, Jermain proposed an adjusted levy of $6.2439 per $100 of assessed property valuation. During the regular session, the board accepted the proposal unanimously.
Also during the meeting, Jermain discussed the possibility of taking over as the ACES fiscal agent.
Until the end of this year, Maryville is the fiscal agent for ACES. But as Maryville plans to withdraw and assume the responsibilities of covering all of the services ACES provides in-house, another district needs to step up and take over.
Jermain explained to the board that the only districts showing any interest in taking over were Jefferson and Mound City.
The main changes this would bring, according to Jefferson, is that the two social workers currently on contract with ACES would join Jefferson’s payroll, and any hiring or firing decisions would come through the district’s board. Additionally, Jermain noted his duties would increase and he would need to be more involved in ACES personally.
This would also put an increased amount of work on board secretary Emmy Brown, but Jermain said he was confident in Brown’s abilities to take over those responsibilities in an efficient manner. Jermain said he would talk to the other members of the co-op about paying a nominal fee, which would increase Brown’s salary as compensation for taking on the extra work.
The benefit, Jermain said, would be that the co-op had a better chance of staying together, and regardless of which district takes over as fiscal agent, Maryville’s district office has agreed to work with them to make sure the transition is smooth. The board agreed to move forward with the process to be considered as the fiscal agent.
The ACES co-op board next meets in October, at which point they will decide on the new fiscal agent.
The board also approved giving custodian John Barthold a 25-cent raise.
The next meeting of the Jefferson C-123 School Board is currently set for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20.