The owner of an average assessed home in Livingston of $700,000 will see an increase of 1.12 percent, or $171, on their annual tax bill in the school district’s tentative budget for the 2022-23 academic year.The tentative budget was adopted last Tuesday, March 22, for submission to the County, which has until April 20 to approve it.Discussion on the budget will continue at the Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, April 5, which will be held virtually and in person.Members of the public may also ask questions and share their thoughts at a virtual public forum on the budget that will take place on Thursday, April 14, at 5 p.m.The district will hold a public hearing on the budget at the Board of Education meeting on April 26. That is the last time that changes may be made to the budget.The Tax Levy and the CapThe actual tax levy, inclusive of debt service, is $120 million, $1.3 million more than in 2021-22.The general fund increased by $3 million, to $114 million, or 2.72 percent, from 2021-22. That increase is composed of the state’s allowable two percent increase (the cap) of $2.2 million; an enrollment adjustment of $293,000; and a banked cap adjustment of $504,000.The enrollment adjustment was provided because student enrollment fell in 2020-21 and rose in 2021-22. The 2022-23 budget is also taking $504,000 from the Board’s $2 million of banked cap – money that the Board could have utilized in the past, but did not.The increase is offset by a decrease of 22 percent in debt service, which went from $7.6 million to $6 million ($1.5 million funds from referendums that have not been spent, plus solar energy credits of $125,000).“While we still get 2.72 percent on the general fund to maintain our operations, we’re able to offset the debt by 22 percent,” said business administrator Michael Davison.“We decided to give $1.5 million back to the taxpayer over the next four years,” said Davison, “to level out the debt payment, so there is less of an impact to the taxpayers. “If you total the general fund tax“If you total the general fund tax levy and the debt service tax levy from ‘21-22, and do the same thing from ‘22 -23, the overall levy has been increased 1.12 percent,” he said.State aid to the Livingston public schools increased almost 22 percent to about $7 million.It has been increasing over ...
