Highlands School Board approves $48.5M budget with no tax increase

Highlands School Board has approved a $48.5 million budget for the 2020-21 school year that leaves the district’s property tax rate unchanged.

The district’s property tax rate remains 24.88 mills. The annual school tax bill on a home assessed at $100,000 would stay at $2,488.

Administrators whittled down the budget as they worked on it this spring. It had been as high as about $49 million in an earlier proposal and stood at $48.7 million last week.

Last week, business Manager Lori Byron said she expected employee retirements to further reduce the district’s spending. However, she did not make any report in public before the school board voted during a virtual meeting Monday, and the board did not discuss the budget before voting.

The district’s final 2020-21 budget shows revenue of about $44.3 million.

In May, Byron said expected revenue losses because of the covid-19 pandemic were contributing to a nearly $5 million deficit. At that time, the district’s revenue was forecast at about $44.1 million.

Byron did not respond to a request for information on the budget.

According to the final budget, the district plans to spend about $4.2 million more than it will take in.

Administrators previously said the deficit would be covered by the district’s reserves.

The budget shows the district starting the fiscal year with about $15 million in reserves, and ending it with about $10.9 million.