Colorado City raises primary property taxes
 
By Patrice St. Germain
The Spectrum
 
COLORADO CITY, Ariz. -- Looking for ways to come up with money for the 2004-2005 school year, the Colorado City Unified School District No. 14 trimmed $100,000 from capital funds but a hefty property tax rate increase is still needed to keep the school running.

In order to help fund the $2.4 million maintenance and operations portion of the school budget, the primary property tax rate will increase from $3.55 to $8.94 adding an extra $5.39 per $100 on assessed property values. The increase will place the assessed property value at roughly $13 per $100 which will make Colorado City's rate the highest in the county. Lake Havasu had the highest rate with $9.19 per $100 of the assessed property value.

The tax increase will likely hit hard in a community where there is already a large percentage of residents behind on paying their utility bills.

Although the majority of the people who attended a Monday meeting about the tax increase want what is best for the school children, one woman remarked that she would rather see programs cut than see people forced out of their homes due to the increased property tax rate.

Perhaps some of the hardest hit will be the people who work at the school and pay property taxes. Wages for staff at the school were cut by 15 percent. The teachers who left due to the cut in wages will not be replaced, leaving an increased burden on the remaining teachers.

School district superintendent Alvin Barlow explained to approximately 30 people who attended the meeting that while the state wrestled with its budget, it stripped the school of approximately $400,000 for the school year for its rapid decline in enrollment.

In the 1999-2000 school year, the school had 991 students and in 2000-2001, the number of enrolled students dropped to 359 and has stayed about the same.

Because of the sudden drop in the number of students, the rapid decline program gives schools a chance, over a period of five years, to reduce budgets by a certain amount for rapid declining enrollment.

Marion Zitting, a teacher's aide at the district and a Colorado City resident asked what the school district would do for the next fiscal year when another rapid decline budget cut would take affect. Barlow admitted that the next decrease would be a problem.

Mohave County School Superintendent Mike File said part of the problem with the Colorado City Unified School District, which had a budget of $5.4 million last year and a student enrollment between 300 and 340, is the staggering number of staff, which is about 100.

The number of staff is far higher than in the Littlefield Unified District #9. Mohave County has a student enrollment of 469 students, and a budget of $4.7 million for the 2003-2004 school year and a staff of 34.

Not only will residents in Colorado City see their property tax rate go up, but those living in Centennial Park as well because they are in the same school district.

The actual school budget is higher than $2.3 million but business manager Jeffrey Jessop said the tax rate only pertains to the maintenance and operations portion of the budget. The total school budget is in excess of $6 million and overall shows an increase of 1.3 percent while the maintenance and operations budget is down 2.4 percent. Jessop said the other monies come from state and federal funds rather than local property taxes.

Residents questioned the school board about the cost of the Cessna 210 airplane the district owns and about how it's balanced the budget. They also asked about raising the property tax, some saying the tax rate should not be increased.

Bistline became angry and said if the board didn't raise taxes, the school couldn't afford paper and pencils and would simply keep going until the district ran out of money, eventually shutting the school down.

"That may not be realistic but you don't know beans about what you are talking about," Bistline said angrily.

Bistline said the board worked very hard at establishing an operating budget for the school and came up with the best they could.

In the end, by cutting $100,000 from capital, instead of looking at a $9.96 tax rate for the school district, the rate will be $8.94. The board may look at cutting the budget further by reducing benefits for the teachers in December.
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published Wednesday, July 28, 2004
 
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