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LEAVITTSBURG -- The LaBrae Local School District is reducing the rate of taxation in 2024 for the bond levy used to pay the outstanding debt incurred from the construction of LaBrae's grades 3-12 building.
Superintendent Anthony Calderone said the bond debt on the building construction will be paid in full by the end of the year.
Calderone said the original debt to fund the construction was refinanced in 2011 as the district took advantage of historically low interest rates. He said the refinancing of the debt saved the district and LaBrae taxpayers $631,644 in interest since 2011.
Officials said in 2023, LaBrae schools were able to compound the interest savings by continuing the return of unused principal from the bond levy to taxpayers.
The 2023 tax rate on the bond debt was reduced from 3.8 to 3.3 mills of taxation and in 2024 it will be reduced to 2.2 mills, officials said.
Calderone said when the bond debt was 5.7 mills in 2016, the owner of a $100,000 home paid $199.50 in taxes to help fund the bond obligation and now with the reduction in millage to 3.3 mills in 2023, the same homeowner saw their tax liability lowered to $115.50.
"This year is markedly different than in prior years as property values have increased due the county reappraisal process. Increasing valuations contribute to LaBrae schools being able to significantly lower the tax rate for the bond to keep the taxes in line with bond taxes paid in prior years," Calderone said.
With valuation increases averaging 33 percent across the county, the $100,000 previously valued home is nominally valued at $133,000 in 2024. The owner of the home at 2.2 mills will pay $102.41 in property tax toward the bond debt.
Calderone said the property owner is paying $97.09 less in annual property taxes than paid in 2016 when the tax rate was 5.7 mills.