The North Hills School Board has agreed to limit any potential property tax increase in the district’s 2026-27 budget.

At its Dec. 2 meeting, the board approved a resolution stating it would not seek to increase the property tax rate by more than 4.2%, the district’s inflation limit imposed by the state.

It does not mean the district will increase the property tax rate at all, only that any increase would not be greater than 4.2%.

The statewide base limit is 3.5%. It is adjusted for each school district.

School districts are required to decide whether they will stay within their limits or prepare a proposed version of a preliminary budget by Jan. 29.

The current property tax rate in the North Hills School District is 20.37 mills, which was left unchanged when the board approved the $100.12 million 2025-26 budget in June. The district would be able to increase it by about 0.8556 mills, for a potential total of about 21.226 mills.

The district last increased the property rate from 19.7 mills in 2023. For a property at Ross’ median value of $134,600, that increased the annual school property tax bill from about $2,652 to $2,742. In West View, where the median value is $98,200, the bill increased from about $1,935 to $2,000.

Because of a restructuring of the school board’s committee system, moving from a committee of the whole model to a series of standing committees beginning in 2026, there no longer will be separate public budget meetings, the district announced.

The former buildings and grounds and finance committees will merge into a single finance and operations committee. Board President Allison Mathis said there no longer will be a need for separate public budget meetings because the meetings will be public and include budget discussions.

All standing committee meetings will be open to the public, according to the district.

School districts are required to adopt proposed final budgets by May 31 and have them available for public inspection by June 10. Final budgets must be approved by June 30.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)