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WHEELING -- The Ohio County Board of Education's excess tax rate will not change for the next fiscal year, despite the loss in revenue that will come with it staying put.
The board on Tuesday approved an excess tax rate of 95.5% for the 2021-22 fiscal year.
Board members met Tuesday morning for less than two minutes, and unanimously approved the proposed rate. Member Christine Carder participated by phone.
The move by the board Tuesday means excess levy tax rates for Ohio County property owners will be assessed at 95.5% -- or 4.5% below the maximum allowed by the state.
"The school board has discretion on the amount it can assess," explained Board President David Croft. "Even though the property tax valuations were lower than they were last year, we elected not to raise the levy rate."
The board also approved the certification of valuation on Ohio County properties submitted to them by County Assessor Tiffany Hoffman. That valuation sets Ohio County's cumulative property value at $2,948,476,096 for fiscal year 2022 -- about $79 million below the 2021 rates.
As a result, Ohio County Schools will see an estimated $1,099,344 drop in the tax revenue that benefits its general fund budget. The school district has an annual budget of about $67 million.
Despite the decrease in expected tax revenue, board members opted not to raise the 95.5% rate. Each percentage point raise in the rate equals about $217,000 that Ohio County taxpayers collectively would pay.
Steven Bieniek, business manager for Ohio County Schools, suggested to the board on March 22 that the rate remain the same, as expected lower tax revenue next fiscal represented a "correction" on recent years, when the school district received higher revenues. He told board members the school district could continue to operate regularly at 95.5%.
The excess levy is a separate levy from the $42.2 million bond issue approved by voters in 2018 to fund property improvements.
The special meeting Tuesday reconvened the March 22 excess levy hearing, and municipalities across West Virginia had until the end of the day Tuesday to set their levy rates for the next fiscal year.