Cape school board keeps tax rate stable

The Cape Girardeau School Board on Monday unanimously approved a total tax rate of 4.1567 cents per $100 valuation, keeping the rate the same as it has been the past several years.

Assistant superintendent of support services Neil Glass said the district promised voters when it went for a bond issue in April 2010 that the initiative would not increase taxes.

No one from the public attended the special meeting to set the tax rate.

Assessed property values in the district went up 5.5 percent to $602,283,929, according to district data. Of that, $28,807,321 was new construction.

However, officials said the anticipated increase was 6.8 percent. Superintendent James Welker said the 5.5 percent was still a "nice increase," but property reassessments came in lower than expected.

The 2013-2014 budget is $51 million, up from the $49.5 million 2012-2013 budget. Welker said the budget will be "studied" the rest of the year.

"Hopefully we can make adjustments and still come out where we were before," he said, adding the district's ending balance may be lower.

Glass said this would not affect the "bump in the base" salary for teachers. Salaries for beginning teachers for 2013-2014 is $31,500. Last year it was $30,000, he said.

He added the district also will be watching House Bill 253, a tax-cut bill that could mean education funding cuts. Welker said the Missouri Legislature passed the bill, which was vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon.

"Schools are concerned that we are going to see funding cuts because there won't be enough money to fund education," Welker said.

The outcome of House Bill 253 will be decided during the veto session coming up in September. "We'll know sometime after that whether they [the legislature] was able to override the veto. If it's not overridden, the governor will release the funding," Welker said.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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