Feb 3, 2017 2 min read

Four of the five Greene County school districts passed resolutions promising property owners they will not raise property taxes above the inflationary index for the 2017-18 school year.

West Greene School Board made the decision at its December meeting.

“Our goal at this point is to not raise taxes at all next year, but I think it’s too soon to tell,” West Greene Superintendent Brian Jackson said.

On Jan. 19, Carmichaels Area School Board also passed the resolution. Superintendent John Menhart said the district plans on raising taxes by 3.7 percent, which is at the index, and would be an increase of about 0.8 mills.

Jefferson-Morgan’s business manager Jennifer Foringer said their school board also won’t raise taxes above the index. She said they haven’t decided if taxes will go up at all, but they won’t need to make that decision until May when they are expected to pass a preliminary budget. Foringer said the district hasn’t had a tax increase since the 2015-16 school year.

Patrick Sweeney, business manager for Southeastern Greene, said they’ve “never gone above the index,” and this year is no exception.

“I’ve been here 13 years and in those 13 years, we’ve actually lowered taxes twice,” he said.

Central Greene is the only district in the county that approved a preliminary budget for next school year, giving them the option to request from the state to raise taxes above the inflationary index through certain exceptions provided in Act 1 of 2006. They have until the end of February to make that request to the state.

Superintendent Brian Uplinger and business manager Jim Shargots said last month if the district does go above the index, the additional money would be used for special education or pension contributions.