November 29, 2005

Moline School District to raise tax levy

Property owners in the Moline school district will pay more in taxes in coming months if the tentative levy the school board adopted Monday night becomes official.

The board set a tentative levy of $38.1 million, up about $2.5 million from this year's. The main reason for collecting more from local taxpayers is to "help maintain a consistent revenue stream" for the district, said chief financial officer David McDermott.
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The board will have a public hearing on the tax levy at 6 p.m. Dec. 12 at the district's administrative offices, 1619 11th Ave., Moline. The board is expected to take a final vote on the levy during its Dec. 20 meeting.

3 Comments:

At 11/30/2005 12:13 PM, Blogger The Inside Dope said...

Don't accuse me of being a fan of Welvaert, but is it fair to saddle him with these rate/tax/levy increases?

It would seem that the blame lies in the Republican mismanaged city government of the past many years.

It's easy to take pot-shots, but seriously, even if O'Brien would have won, would there have been any easy fixes for the budget mess? Or would it have been a grim reality that the rates would have to be raised since they had been left out of whack for many years?

I recall the excellent piece by the former city official which revealed how the city, through mismanagement, had not adjusted their assessment formula and because of that, had allowed the tax rates to be effectively lower than they should have been.

Read it here.

Keeping that in mind, wouldn't any new mayor have to confront this budget shortfall? Wouldn't even O'Brien have to face facts and deal with the result of giving away everything to developers for years and years without reaping the promised return from it?

 
At 12/04/2005 7:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Apparently you people can't read, or don't know as much about governmental structure in Illinois as you think you do. The city of Moline DOES NOT RUN the Moline school district! The school district is governed by its own elected board of trustees, and managed by a superintendent (Cal Lee) and a host of assistant superintendents. The city's budget situation has NOTHING to do with the school's.

 
At 12/04/2005 8:08 PM, Blogger The Inside Dope said...

Thanks for noting that important distinction anon. I knew the board was independant of the city, but felt that perhaps the rate increase may have been tied in some way, even though not directly, to the proposed tax increases for the city.

That's why I was a bit confused when a commenter blamed the minty-fresh mayor for this.

 

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