Jordan school board OKs tax increase

Jordan residents: Dig into those pockets.

The Jordan Board of Education Tuesday unanimously approved a $570 million budget with a $9.4 million tax increase in it.

The tax hike, subject to an August truth-in-taxation hearing, would come through several taxes. It would raise $2.2 million to pull down $1.7 million in state money to help kindergartners through third-graders read. It also would cover textbook, utility and other costs and help offset transportation and high school extracurricular activity costs.

The board opted for tax increases, which would cost homeowners $28 more in taxes on a $100,000 house, and to dip into its fund balance rather than impose radical budget cuts or boost class size. It also gave a small pay raise.

"We recognize the financial constraints (of the public) . . . and we realize the majority of our patrons have no children in public school," board president Peggy Jo Kennett said. "We're trying to do what's best. . . . A vibrant public education system benefits all."

No residents sought to speak Tuesday night.

The district's budget is 6.4 percent higher than the current year. New spending includes the reading program, construction voters OK'd in last year's bond election, and rising health insurance premiums.

Teachers will get a raise for the first time in three years but they could pay a lot of it back out in insurance costs, Jordan Education Association executive director Laura Black said.

The district funded step and lane increases, or teachers' climb up the pay scale, Black said. It also will give experienced teachers atop the salary schedule — some 1,500 teachers in a cadre of 3,500 — a 0.5 percent pay increase.

Teachers also will get about a $250 state bonus in December, Black said.

But they'll have to pick up half the cost of the 12 percent increase in insurance premiums.

Still, Black is pleased. "I think the process worked well. We all came to the table trying to problem solve."

In all, $4.5 million in the district's budget will go to new insurance costs for employees, $1.2 million for a half-percent pay hike, $4.5 million for step and lane changes, and $4 million in retirement costs, Superintendent Barry Newbold reported.

The tax increase provides $9.4 million, but there is other new money coming in. Growth in district assessed valuation is expected to bring in an extra $4.2 million. The Legislature's 1.5 percent weighted pupil unit increase totals about $3 million.

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