MILTON — The Milton School District approved its $49.1 million budget on Monday, with a lower tax rate than last year.
The tax rate will be $6.90, which leads to a tax bill of $1,380 on a $200,000 home. The tax rate was $7.49 in 2023-24.
The overall tax levy is going to be about $21.8 million, a 4% decrease
The district has a recurring $5 million referendum on the Nov. 5 election ballot.
Board member Tracy Hannah asked for clarification with the overall tax levy decreasing 4%, why not tax at the $7.49 so there is no fluctation in taxing and the board is still getting more funds.
“We had some good conversation about different options. There are some places across some of our schools where we have large class sizes and some additional class support would be valuable but we didn’t feel like this was a good time to add anything because if the referendum doesn’t pass it just increases the amount we’ll need to cut going into next year,” Superintendent Rich Dahman said.
If the referendum passes, it would start with the 2026-27 school year. The district projects a $6.67 tax rate in 2025-26. If the referendum passes, the district projects the tax rate to be $7.04 in 2026-27. The district’s projections from there are $6.80 in 2027-28 and $6.64 in 2028-29.
The district has budgeted about $28.2 million in state aid, up from about $27 million the last two years.
The district will receive only $327,971 in federal dollars in 2024-25, down from just a little over $1 million in 2023-24 and about $2.3 million in 2022-23. MacPherson attributed this to the district no longer receiving Elementary and Secondary School Emergency (ESSER) funds, which were COVID relief.
The budget was approved unanimously.
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