School tax burden seems inappropriate considering the financial stress of the shutdown

To the Editor:

I am surprised not to see any information in the Pike County Courier about the proposed 2020-2021 school budget that will be voted upon soon. With so much of the available tax funds being used by the board of education, I would think this would be a priority item for the area.

Glancing at the online presentation leaves me with some questions. For instance, how was the current budget affected by the coronavirus? With no buses, no sports, limited building use, no extra circular activities, no need for teacher aides, the savings should be significant. Also, the proposed enrollment of 4,388 students at $14,692 per student comes to $64,446,496 about $20 million less than the proposed budget.The proposed mill rate stays unchanged but the level of state reimbursement goes up and the student count goes down.The tax burden seems inappropriate considering the financial stress of the shutdown on a large percentage of the population.

The fact that almost 40 percent of the residential tax base is made up of part-time property owners with no students in the system should be a plus for the taxpayers. When real estate taxes approach or exceed 2 percent yearly of a property’s value, we enter into a downward spiral. A spiral that has been shown to stagnate growth, diminish property values and eliminate funding for other important services.

Douglas Dow

Milford